Hearts of Evil
by Xyex
Summary: A thousand years ago a sorceress attempted to conquer the Earth but was defeated by Olibu.  However, before her death she set in motion a plan for revenge.  One that now threatens the destruction of not just Earth... but the entire universe!
1. It Begins

_Chapter One - It Begins_

Earth: July 24th, 248 B.C.

Lightning flashed bathing the battle field in a surreal glow for a moment before fading away. Tejina pulled her cloak tight about her as she watched the raging battle. Her own warriors, her Reiketsukan army, was doing battle against a ragtag army assembled by the world's Champion, Olibu. Suddenly a brilliant white light flooded the battlefield and she looked up to find Olibu's daughter, Athena.

She was powerful, not as strong as her father, but still very powerful. She had taken up her father's place as head of the army for the last week, after his defeat at the Sorceress' hands. Tejina opened her cloak and raised her staff summoning her Reiketsukan warriors to leave the cannon fodder be and attack Athena. Instantly hundreds of forms launched skyward and began attacking her.

But they didn't stand a chance. In a matter of moments she'd cut through them and was moving towards Tejina. Athena knew that her father would be back any moment and this knowledge filled her with even more courrage than usual. She knew that after the training he'd said he was to receive the two of them could take Tejina together. But she intended to aid matters further by wearing the Sorceress down, even if only a little, before her father arrived. Unfortunately for her, Tejina was tired of playing war...

The Sorceress thrust her staff toward Athena and shot off a wave of red Ki at the nearing warrior. Athena dodged to the side but before she could react again Tejina was there and slamming her fist into her face. The battlefield went silent at the sound of the loud crack from the blow. And then Athena plummeted toward the Earth lifeless. Tejina grinned and aimed her staff toward Olibu's forces. She'd defeated the powerful warrior days ago and this army was all he had left. Once they were gone she would be ruler of the Earth.

She jerked her head up as blue light bathed the area and just barely dodged around a Ki blast from Olibu. "What!" she cried as he pulled to a stop, his blue aura pulsing about him. "I beat you once already Olibu! You think you can defeat me now, after only a week has passed since our last battle?"

The powerful Human grinned. "It may have only been a week to you Tejina, but I trained for two years during that time." He cast his gaze down to where his daughter lay, closed his eyes, and bowed lightly. She'd bought him the time he'd needed to finish his training with Kami. Once he'd dealt with Tejina he'd use the Dragonballs that Kami had told him of to revive her.

The battlefield was alight with red and blue as the two beings did battle. Tejina pooled her magic and gave him all she had but it had not been enough. After an hour of gruelling battle that left craters and damage across miles of land, a solid right hook brought her crashing to the muddy ground, her blood mixing into it and turning it red. Panting, Olibu landed at her feet. "Give up, I don't want to have to kill you."

"Then let me live and I'll come back!" she hissed. "And next time I'll defeat you for good, just like your daughter." Olibu closed his eyes and shook his head in sadness. As he did she jammed the tip of her staff into the Earth and whispered. "Ovo tri rao yun zin rao zin givo rav uono!" There was a spark from the base of her staff that shot down through the Earth. Grinning she looked back up at Olibu. "Do it!" she hissed. Olibu held out his arm and with one last Ki blast he incinerated Tejina.

In her palace several miles away, in a room deep underground, the spell she'd cast before her death took hold. The large blood red crystal flashed and an aura of darkness formed about it. As Tejina's revenge was set in motion the sky outside darkened further and then was lit brightly by the massive form of Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. Moments later he departed. Athena lived, the ravaged lands were restored, and those who'd become Reiketsukan's were restored. But all was not as it had been. A darkness had taken root and had begun to feed.

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Earth: December 5th, 478 A.D.

Shin felt himself thrown roughly to the ground and heard a thud beside him, most likely Kibito recieving the same treatmeant. Looking up weakly, his body beaten and broken, he saw the short yellow wizard he'd been following emerge from the shadows cackling happily. "At last the day I've waited so long for has arrived! The energy has been gathered, Majin Buu shall be ressurected! And as his first act he'll obliterate you!"

The Kai groaned as he tried to pull himself to his feet but felt the large foot of Dabura push him back down. That Babidi would be able to enslave the Demon King... he'd never imagined that. He'd not expected such powrful warriors under Babidi's control. Normally Dabura was only mildly stronger than him... but as a Majin his power was greater, too much for the two Kais to defeat. And now Majin Buu would be unleashed on the universe once more.

He watched, unable to stop him, as Babidi plugged the energy collector into Buu's shell and began to feed the power in. It only took a few moments for it to reach capacity. It began to pulse as pink smoke leaked and it began to crack. _"No! I... I've failed..."_ Shin's mind cried as he watched in horror. And then the shell fell apart and the smoke began to clear. As it did Shin thought he saw two shadows inside the smoke.

And then, suddenly, a stream of golden Ki shot out and slammed into Babidi incinerating him. Shin's eyes widened in shock as two forms emerged from the smoke that he'd never expected to see again. "Ken! Dai!" he cried standing as Dabura's foot was missing from his back. The large South Kaioshin, Ken, and the round Elder Kaioshin, Dai, stood before him. Shin turned at an odd sound just in time to see Dabura vanish, Babidi's hold on him gone now that the wizard was dead.

"I... don't understand." Kibito said climbing to his feet. "What happened to Majin Buu?"

"Gone." Ken replied. "He kept getting weaker and weaker starting about 600 years ago. Around 200 years ago he just... vanished. I guess he was sealed up for too long."

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Earth: Feburary 13th, 772 A.D.

A series of soft thump, thump, thumps marked the steady progession of the small creature across the hard stone floor. Stopping at the intersection of the hall he was in and another he looked around. The entire building was falling apart, obviously not been used in an extremely long time. He wouldn't have even found it all if it hadn't been for that rotten cat chasing him into that little crevice.

He looked about him in interest. He could feel... something in this place. He just hoped it was a way to finally get rid of the body he was trapped within. After a moment he chose a direction and continued on his way. After several long minutes he reached a set of doors and peeked into each. The first was a simple room with an old bed, the second had rotting and broken chairs and tables, but the third and final had a large black crystal that seemed to be pulsing with power and energy.

Slowly he crept toward it and peered inside. With a startled 'Ribbit' he leapt back and ducked behind a rock. Peeking around the edge he looked again he saw the two yellow eyes still looking his way. Swallowing he slowly moved closer again. And then he heard a raspy voice inside his head. _-You are... not yourself. I can help you. If you will help me. I can give you power, and a new body. One that can talk and fight.-_

The frog sat there staring at the eyes in the crystal for a long moment. Slowly he nodded. _-Wise choice. I need to know the powers of the strongest in the world, you will be my eyes and ears. And you will seek out others who can help me. Now, brace yourself. This will hurt... a lot.-_

Red and black energy began to surround the odd frog that sat upon the floor. Its eyes bulged and it screeched in pain as it began to change and grow. Purple energy began to lace in with the black and red as the frog's power grew and grew, higher and higher, going beyond anything the frog had experienced before. The painful croaking steadily changed into agonized screams.

And then, it was over. The former frog stood. His body was large now, six and half foot tall, muscular, and scaled. No longer did he look like a frog. Small black horns sat upon his forhead, his red eyes were slanted and angular, the frog like face replaced by one more Human in structure, though without a nose. Upon his forhead, between the horns, was a third, verticle, pure black eye.

Flexing his musscles he looked himself over and then laughed. "Captain Ginyu has returned!" he shouted happily, striking a pose. He grinned as he flexed some more. "And I'm more than twice the strength of my old body! This is great!"

_-Now, go.- _the voice demanded. _-Find those with Darkness in their hearts to join me, and find this world's strongest fighters, so I know what stands against me.- _ Ginyu nodded and left. For the first time in over a thousand years a Reiketsukan walked upon the Earth. The yellow eyes within the crystal moved back and faded from sight. _ "Soon." _their owner thought. _"Soon I'll have what I need to be free."_

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Earth: Monday, April 5th, 774 A.D.

Gohan rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed. Moving his hand away so he could see he smiled and reached out toussling Goten's hair. "Hey there squirt." he said to the kid sitting at the foot of his bed. Moving the covers he climbed out of bed and started getting dressed.

"Gohan, Mr. Piccolo came by again this morning." Goten said crossing his arms. "He said something to mom about dark energy and training but she chased him off with a rolling pin again. Something's going on and no one's telling me what!" the little Sai-jin pouted.

"It's nothing Goten. Piccolo and Dende have just had a bad feeling the last couple months, that's all." Gohan sighed as he remembered when Piccolo had first mentioned it a month before. Since then Gohan had stepped up his training a little, instead of just using it to keep in shape and active he was actually training to bring his power up again. Something he'd not done since before the Cell Games. Which he'd found had been a bad idea. When he'd started again the previous month his power had been barely more than a quartar of what it had been at the Cell Games. He'd made some good progress since then but was still less than half his old strength. "Piccolo's just been making sure I keep up my training now."

"Is that where you're going today?"

Gohan laughed as he pulled on his shoes. "No, I'm heading off to Hercule High. Remember, I'm starting there today."

"Oh ya! I remember! Hey Gohan, can I come with you? I want to go to school in the city too!"

Gohan shook his head. "Sorry Goten, maybe some other time. Besides, you're better off here with mom anyway. She's more strict but the day is shorter and you can eat whenever you want." That was one thing Gohan was very much not looking forward too. He'd seen how small the school lunches were. He'd told Chi-Chi about that and she said she couldn't do anything about it for today, but she'd have him a late lunch ready for when he got home, and a capsule of food ready for the next day too.

"Oh... okay. Can I train with you today at least? I have to hold back too much against mom."

Gohan nodded. "Sure thing." he said walking out of his room. When he'd found out that his mom was actually training Goten it had been something of a shock to him. But then he put a little thought into it and it made some more sense. Goten looked so much like Goku, and he'd loved fighting. It was just Chi-Chi's way of remembering Goku. Even if she still made Gohan stick to the books as much as she could.

Walking out into the kitchen the two boys found a pile of food stacked up on the table waiting for them. Goten lept from the doorway and into his chair digging in without a word. Gohan was a bit more slow, a bit more casual, but he was soon packing away the food faster than Goten. "You really need to talk to Piccolo." Chi-Chi said sitting her own plate of two pancakes down on the little corner of the table that was left.

Gohan knew what she meant, talk to him about the training. He didn't say anything, just kept eating. He didn't like lying so it was best if he just kept quiet. It didn't take long for him to finish off his food and juice and a glance at the wall clock told him he was running a little late. "Bye Goten, bye mom!" he called as he ran out the door and leapt into the sky. In a burst of blue light he rocketed toward Hercule City.

He'd fly to the city limits and then land so no one would see him and walk the rest of the way. It was only a four mile walk from the city edge to Hercule High. As he flew he felt a power graze his senses off to the west and turned to look. It was fairly strong for a power on Earth but nothing he wouldn't have been able to easily deal with. That is, if he'd sensed it again. As soon as he turned to look it vanished. Gohan shook it off as nothing and continued on his way.

A few moments later he descended and landed just outside the city limits. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he emerged from the woods at the city's edge and walked down the street. He'd flown over Hercule City several times in the passed week in order to memorize the city's layout. He now knew it by heart and could reach the school with his eyes closed.

He was about halfway there when three explosions sounded down the block from where he was. Turning to look he saw three masked men come running out of a bank, guns and bags of money in hand. _"I should do something... but someone could recognize me later... OH! No one would recognize me if I trans..."_ His train of thought was cut off as a girl suddenly dropped from the bank roof smashing her foot into the head of one of the masked men.

She used the impact to spring board back up into the air and backflip toward a second man. Twisting in the air she lashed out a spinning heel kick that slammed into the side of his temple sending him down as well. She then landed on the ground and stood slowly, turning to look at the third and final robber. He was the one with the money, and without a gun. After a second he gulped, dropped the money, turned, and ran.

The girl took off after him and was gaining quickly. Still several feet away she jumped into the air and flipped over his head landing in front of him facing him. Before he could even stop her fist slammed into his face knocking him back and out. The robbers defeated she dusted off her hands as the cops pulled up.

Gohan just stared at her blankly as she spoke with the police officers. After a second he regained his powers of thought and reached out his mind to feel her power. _"Oh, wow! She's almost as strong as Master Roshi! No wonder she took those guys out so easily. I wonder who she is?"_ He shook his head and decided he could figure that out later, he still had to get to school.

The rest of the trip to Hercule High was uneventful and Gohan spent it thinking about the next month. Bulma was going to be having a picnic on the 26th, the anivarsery of Cell's defeat. And of Goku's death. Of course, Dende had suggested they come up to the lookout for it, since it would be rather wet down on Earth. The young Guardian had done the same thing each year, a light rain all day long with only one break. The exact span of time that Goku and Gohan had been fighting against Cell. From the start of the Cell Games to the second that Cell was destroyed.

Gohan sighed and turned his gaze up to the clouds. _"That's dad for you though. The rest of the world comes before him. At least Mirai's going to be coming for his yearly visit soon."_ He was so lost in thought he didn't even see the guy in front of him until he'd bumped into him. Stumbling back a bit he lowered his gaze and looked at the large boy standing in front of Hercule High. "Oh, sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going..." he said scratching the back of his head.

"Apparently not!" the large and muscular teen growled turning. "I think I should teach you some manners shrimp."

There were some giggles from behind the large teen and then a short girl, about a head shorter than Gohan, came out from behind him. Standing next to the other guy made her look like an ant. While the guy wore a pair of jeans and a camo tank-top, the girl was in red leather pants, a very small black top, and had purple hair tied in a long braid and black lipstick. "Show him what he gets for bumping into you Bull." she said giggling.

Bull grinned. "Yeah, sure thing Fellona."

As Bull cracked his knuckles Gohan frowned. "Hey, come on, I said I was sorry. There's no reason to fight."

"Heh, the shrimp's scared to fight me!" Bull laughed as a small crowd gathered. "Well too bad shrimp, you should have thought of that before you ran into me!"

_"Oh, great! This is just what I need, a fight on my first day of school! Man, how do I get into these messes? Alright Gohan, make this look believeable. He's big and slow, you're small and fast. He's going to have to look stronger though..."_ All this ran through his head in only a matter of seconds and then Bull's fist was rocketing toward his face. Gohan slipped to the side dodging it and doing his best to make it look normal.

Bull growled and swung again and Gohan ducked under it. As he went down he shot his leg out and swept Bull's feet out from under him and the guy came down hard onto his back. As Gohan stood back up he looked down at the large teen. "Look, I don't want to fight you."

Growling again Bull climbed back to his feet and Gohan sighed realizing this guy wasn't going to just give up. Bull threw another punch aimed for his head and Gohan ducked under it slipping to Bull's side and then threw his own punch toward his abdomen. The large teen wasn't fast enough and the attack hit its mark at barely even a fraction of Gohan's power. Still, it was enough to hurt a good deal. It wasn't enough to really phase the walking tank of teen though and he turned and backhanded Gohan.

The Sa-jin hadn't been expecting it, he'd thought his punch would have been enough to bring Bull down, and wasn't able to dodge the back of his large fist. There was a loud crack as the blow impacted and Gohan was knocked over into the dirt. _"Stupid, stupid, stupid."_ he thought as his face stung. He'd definately felt worse, but it was annoying none the less. Groaning he climbed back to his feet and rubbed his face, a small bruise forming. _"At least I had my power pushed way down, or he'd have broken his hand."_

"Seems the shrimp wants more." Fellona said smirking.

"Yeah, sure does!" Bull laughed. "Alright shrimp, time to put your lights out!" Bull threw a punch for Gohan's head again, full power. Once more Gohan slipped to the side but this time he reached up and grabbed his arm and used Bull's own momentum to flip him over and onto his back with a thud. Bull growled and started climbing back to his feet again.

"Alright, that's enough!" another female voice called from near-by. Gohan looked away from Bull to the sound of the voice and found the girl from before standing there. Her arms were crossed and her blue eyes glaring at Bull and Fellona.

Bull smirked as he finished climbing to his feet. "Well, if it isn't the great Videl Satan!" he laughed. "You think you're tough just because you're Hercule's daughter. Well, I got news for you little girl, _I'm_ going to be the one winning the Budokai this year. Not that old fart." He grinned again as he cracked his knuckles once more. "And I think I'll send him a little message to that effect by putting you in the hospital. One last weakling I'll have to deal with at the tournament!"

Bull pulled back his fist again and swung it straight for Videl's head. Gohan was still too shocked over the fact that she was Hercule's daughter to even move. She slipped around his punch and then leapt into the air slamming her knee against his jaw. The blow lifted him up off the ground a few inches before knocking him onto his back yet again.

As Gohan's senses came back to him he walked over to stand beside Videl and followed her example by slipping into a fighting stance, one he'd learned from Piccolo. "I can handle him myself." Videl said glancing over to him.

"I can tell." Gohan replied. And he could. This Bull was less than half her strength. "But this started because of me and I don't let others finish my fights for me."

She raised an eyebrow slightly at that as Bull once more climbed to his feet, but she said nothing, simply tightened her stance. As Bull glared at them Gohan decided using a little more of his strength wouldn't be a problem. If they were used to Videl's displays of strength then taking his up to a notch or two below hers wouldn't suprise them too much. Bull charged them this time, intending to clothes-line the two teens.

They glanced at each other as he came, both grinning slightly seeing that the other had the same thought. They slipped beneath his arms and attacked. Gohan threw a right punch aimed for the other's stomach, and Videl threw a left. The two blows landed at the same time and Bull stopped in his tracks doubling over their fists, his eyes bulging out of his head. A second later he stumbled back holding his stomach as Gohan and Videl straightened up once more.

Fellona moved over to Bull as he dropped to his knees and then collapsed unconcious. "You'll pay for that!" she cried walking toward them now. Suddenly she pulled out a knife from her pocket and started trying to stab Gohan. The Sai-jin dodged around her swings making sure to only just avoid them, his shirt sleeve getting cut once along the way. Suddenly a hand grabbed Fellona's wrist and twisted it causing her to drop the knife and then she was thrown over Videl's shoulder and into a tree which knocked her out.

Videl then turned back to Gohan. "You could have taken her out just easily as me, why didn't you?"

Gohan grinned dumbly and scratched the back of his head. "I'd rather not hit a girl unless I have too, or she's actually able to fight back."

Videl smirked. _"He's a strange one."_ "So, just who are you anyway? I've never seen you around here before, and you're a pretty good fighter. You going to be in the Budokai next month?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I'm Gohan." he said holding out his hand, which Videl then shook. "And I just started here, I've been home schooled up until now. As for the tournament, probably not. I just train for the exercise mostly, I'm not really into fighting that much."


	2. First Day of School

_Chapter Two - First Day of School_

Hercule High:

Gohan had parted ways with Videl shortly after the fight outside the school had ended. She'd gone off to her first class of the day and he'd gone off to the office to pick up his schedule. He sighed as he looked around at the crowd of students in the office. Three lines of kids led to the counter, some with registration papers but most with late excuses. It took almost an hour to get through one of the lines and about ten seconds to receive his schedule.

Walking out of the office he looked down at it. "Let's see... my first class is Advanced Calculus but that's over in..." he glanced down at his watch. "Five minutes. I'll never find it before it's over. Alright, second class is... History, Building 2, room 229, with Mr. Histora." Pocketing his schedule he walked down the nearly empty main hall and out the front doors again. Standing in the small courtyard he glanced over to the two side buildings. The one on his left was marked 3, the one on the right 2. Turning right he made his way over to the building and inside.

He found a small directory on the wall and glanced at it. 201-215 were on floor one, 216-230 on the second floor. The door beside the directory led to the stairs so he opened it and started up. By the time he reached the second floor the bell rang for class change. He made his way slowly through the throngs of students to the end of the hall and room 229. Walking in he found it almost completely empty, only three students and the white haired teacher were already present.

"Um, hello." he said tentatively walking up to the small man. He looked a lot like Bulma's father, but with a half bald head and much thicker glasses.

"Ah, yes, what can I do for you young man?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"I'm new here." he said showing him the schedule.

"Gohan..." he said looking from the paper to his book to find Gohan's name. "Ah, yes, here you are. Hmmm, now, where to put you...?"

"He can sit up here with us!" a voice called down that Gohan recognized instantly. A glance up the rows of seats revealed that he was right, Videl sat in the third seat in at the back of the class. He didn't recognize the blonde boy beside her or the blonde girl on the end of the row.

"Hmm, well, that will do nicely." the teacher said nodding.

Gohan pocketed his schedule again and moved up the aisle. "Thanks." he said as he neared. "Nice to see at least one face here I recognize, but how'd you beat me here?"

Videl and the other two watched as he moved down the row and took the seat beside the raven haired girl. "This is our first classroom too." Videl said at last. "We have study hall first thing. Anyway, these are my friends Sharpner and Erasa. They may seem a little strange at times but they're basically harmless. Guys, this is Gohan, the one I was telling you about."

"Him?" Sharpner asked incredulously.

Gohan just sort of shrank in his seat a bit at Sharpner's gaze but Videl didn't notice as she was looking at Sharpner and frowning. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's a nerd, not a fighter!" Sharpner said as though it was as plain as day. "I mean look at him, he's all skin and bones, not one muscle on him."

"And how would you know?" asked Erasa. "His shirt covers up his arms, so unless you have x-ray vision you can't possibly tell. Anyway Gohan, don't mind Sharpner, he's just a muscle head."

"Yeah, and you're an airhead."

"At least that means she's got room for some common sense." Videl said as more students began filing into the room. She turned over to Gohan again. "Just ignore Sharpner. So, how are you liking it here so far?"

"Well, I don't really know yet." he replied getting more comfortable. "So far all I've done is stand in line in the office."

"Oh, I think you'll like it here." said Erasa. "The teachers are all really good and they manage to make most of the classes fun."

Sharpner leaned forward and looked at Gohan. "Hey, can I see your schedule?"

"Huh? Oh, sure." he said pulling it out again and giving it to him.

"Let's see... Block I: Advanced Calculus, History, Phys. Ed., Advanced Physics, Astronomy, Intro to Criminal Justice, and Advanced Biology. Block II: Genetics, Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Archaeology, Robotics, and Co-op work at Capsule Corp... Yep, you're definitely a geek."

"I think they're interesting." Erasa said. "Not that I'd be able to do half of them..."

"Me either." Videl said as she took the paper from Sharpner. "And how'd you pull off Robotics and a Co-op at Capsule Corp. anyway? Robotics has been full for months and Capsule Corp. doesn't do Co-ops too often."

"Er, well..." Gohan said scratching the back of his head as he took the schedule back from Videl. "Bulma kind of wants me working for her so she made sure there was room in the Robotics class and set up the Co-op for me..."

"What, Bulma?" Sharpner asked. "Do you mean Bulma Briefs? As in head of Capsule Corp.? She set this up for you herself? Why would she do that for some kid she doesn't even know?"

"Well, we kind of do know each other." Gohan explained. "She met my dad years ago and they've been friends ever since. My little brother is going over there to play with her son today even, those two are practically inseparable."

"Oh wow, that's so cool!" Erasa chirped.

Gohan was about to say something else when the school bell rang again and the teacher cleared his throat to start class. The other students that had filed into the room quieted down instantly. "Well now, could someone tell me where we left off yesterday? Yes, Videl?"

"We were just about to talk about the destruction of River City back in May of 767." she said.

"Ah yes, right, right." the teacher said nodding. "Well then, I know you were only children then, it's been almost seven years now. But, what do you remember about that day? Yes, Sharpner?"

"It was all over the news, about 10:30 or so." he said. "Some kind of major explosion took out a good chunk of the city. We still aren't entirely sure what happened but there are a number of theories."

As Gohan listened in he tried to think back to what that may have been. And then it clicked. River City had been the town on the island where the Androids had first appeared. Gero had been behind the destruction of the city. Though Gohan doubted any of the theories Sharpner mentioned involved super powered Androids created to kill an alien that, until the Androids had been built, was the strongest being in the universe.

"What are some of those theories Mr. Sharpner?"

"Well, a terrorist bomb of some type or a meteor impact are the most accepted ones. But there are a few nuts out there that claim it was aliens and some others that swear it was caused by an old geezer with white hair shooting lasers from his eyes." Gohan blinked and couldn't help but laugh a little. Coming from Sharpner, in such a tone and form, and despite the fact he knew it was true, it sounded quite absurd and funny. Sharpner mistook his laughter, however, as meaning he thought the idea was ridiculous. "Yeah, I know. It's creative but that's about it."

Mr. Histora nodded. "Very good, very good." he said. "But you've forgotten one of the other accepted theories. That the explosion was, in some way, caused by the creature Cell. It's true that he was not seen on film until a few days later, and in Pepper Town at that, but it is a common and accepted theory. Now, speaking of Cell, what do we know about him? He is a major part of that time period. Ms. Jugs?"

"He was some kind of freak of nature, a mutant or something." said a red head near the front of the class. "At least, that's what I think. My mom says he was our payback for all the bad things we'd done over the years. That the Earth created him to kill off the Humans for damaging the planet. She says that Hercule only delayed the end of the world and that the Earth will send another avatar to finish what Cell started."

Sharpner laughed. "That's crazy. Besides, even if it is true, Hercule will just beat it down again anyway, unless Videl gets there first." Gohan just shook his head slowly as the class continued. They covered the series of events, as they knew them, up to Cell's televised announcement of the Cell Games. The entire time his mind wondered back to the events he knew had been happening at the time. It seemed strange to hear about what happened from the perspective of everyone else.

He couldn't quite grasp how something as big as the Androids and Cell could happen without the world figuring it out. They knew about Cell and that was it. They didn't know about Gero, 19, 18, 17, or 16. And they only knew about Imperfect and Perfect Cell. When the bell finally rang they had just gotten to talking about the day of the Cell Games. Gohan got up from his seat and started toward the exit when he heard Videl's voice. "Oh, er, sorry." he said. "I was lost in thought, what'd you say?"

"I said you can just follow us to the gym." Videl said slightly annoyed at needing to repeat herself. "It's our next class too."

"Oh, ok."

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Capsule Corp:

Bulma walked around her newest invention examining it. As far as she knew the small device was in perfect condition, and yet, it hadn't worked. It stood about three foot tall, was cylindrical in shape, and about a foot in width. At the moment it looked more like a mess than an operational machine since wires and circuits were sticking out every which way. But then, she'd not put a shell on it yet, not until it was actually working.

Which, obviously, it wasn't. If it was working the light bulb she had wired to it would have turned on and it didn't. She couldn't figure out why though... She'd checked the water tank, the quart of water she'd poured in was gone, so obviously it had activated. The water would have been charged, sucked through the tubing, and then pumped through the machine with the electrical charge. The solution she'd added to the water would have generated high levels of heat which the machine would have absorbed as well.

The system would have then been running on it's own. The heat and electricity would have powered the continued process and the light. All it took was one little drop of oil to get it started and you had an infinite power source. So, why had the bulb not turned on? "Maybe... I'm not generating enough power? But I should be getting enough energy from this thing to power this entire room..." she stopped as a wind picked up inside the lab and turned to look behind her.

As she saw the sparking light inside the small cubicle she smiled. Blue lightning began to arc along the walls and encircle an invisible form. The space inside the cubicle distorted and shifted, colors began to form inside the distortion, and then the light faded and left behind an object that hadn't been there before. Bulma noted it didn't look the same this time as it had the previous year. Apparently they were on version five now.

As the dome of glass on the top opened and the occupant stood up Bulma waved. "Hey there Mirai! You're a little early this year, you usually don't come until the end of the month."

"Hey mom." he said pulling out of the time machine and stepping into the lab. "Yeah, I know. It was, well, your idea." Bulma knew what he meant, it had been her future self's idea. "We just finished up the last of the rebuilding work, everything's been restored at last. So, mom figured I should come back and relax with you guys for a while. Well, no, she pretty much forced me into the time machine."

Bulma laughed as she walked over to Mirai and hugged him. "Well, it's good to see you again. And Gohan's going to be thrilled you're here already! Not to mention Trunks and Goten." She turned and looked back at her new invention. "Now, maybe you can give me a hand fixing this thing?"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Hercule High:

Gohan walked into the large Gym with Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner and took a look around. The four of them were already in their gym clothes and ready to go. So were a handful of other students, but there was no sign of the teacher yet. "Hmm, that's odd." Sharpner said looking around. "Mr. Sentif is usually here before us."

"I heard he was in the hospital." Erasa said looking around for any signs of him or a replacement teacher. "Apparently he got attacked after one of his night classes over in Ginger Town."

"Who would attack Mr. Sentif?" Videl asked crossing her arms. "He's a nice guy..."

"Probably got jumped by some wannabe World Champions." Sharpner replied. "It wouldn't be the first time a known contender for the tournament got attacked to knock him out of competition before the tournament started. Wasn't your father jumped just last week?"

"Yeah, both of those guys are in the hospital now." Videl replied. "I guess that does make sense. Mr. Sentif did train with my dad for a few years and was planning on entering the tournament."

"It's too bad really." Sharpner said frowning. "I was looking forward to a good fight against someone I actually had a chance of beating. Now I'm just going to be stuck with nobodies, you, and your dad. Man, maybe I shouldn't even enter."

"I thought you were looking forward to fighting Bull?" Videl asked glancing over to him. "Gohan and I didn't hurt him that badly, he'll still be there. And if he's there you know Fellona's going to enter too."

"True enough. I may as well give it a try I suppose. But if I have to fight you or Hercule first I'm just going to forfeit." He paused as he looked around again. "Man, whoever they found to replace Mr. Sentif is really late..."

As Gohan nodded he thought he felt a familiar power graze his senses. It wasn't very high but he thought he knew it... and it was nearing his current location too. A moment later the Gym doors swung open and a man with short black hair and wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt entered. Gohan smiled instantly as he recognized his face and realized why the Ki wasn't easily recognizable. It had been almost a year since the last time he'd seen the man. "Hey Yamcha!" Gohan called out waving.

Yamcha looked up from his clipboard at the sound of someone calling his name and smiled when he saw Gohan. "Hey Gohan, is that you? I thought Chi-Chi insisted on home schooling you?"

"Just started here today." Gohan said with a shrug.

"Heh, that makes two of us." he said, before turning to address the class. "First of all, let me apologize for being late. The office was packed and they couldn't find my papers either. It was one problem after another all morning. That said, my name is Yamcha, as you've no doubt already realized, and I am Mr. Sentif's replacement for the rest of the year. The school has asked me to assure you that he's doing just fine, but he does have several broken bones and wont be able to teach the rest of the year. Now, if you'll just give me a moment to go over the roll call here we'll get started."

Sharpner leaned in toward Gohan. "So, you know this guy then?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, he's a friend of mine. He was Bulma's boyfriend for several years. Dad met him shortly after meeting Bulma." Gohan explained.

"Oh?" Erasa asked still looking Yamcha over. "Well, he certainly is cute."

Videl rolled her eyes. "You say that about everyone." she said.

Sharpner had had a thoughtful look on his face since Gohan had answered his question. Suddenly his eyes widened slightly and he grinned. "I know where I've heard his name before! He used to play for the Titans!"

"The baseball team?" Videl asked.

"Yeah, had the most scores and home-runs of the entire team, but also got into the most fights."

"Heh, that sounds like Yamcha." Gohan said.

Yamcha finished up the roll call a few moments later and then flipped his papers over on his clipboard and read over a couple of pages quickly. "Ok, it looks like Mr. Sentif was going to do some martial arts exercises in honor of the coming Budokai next month. So I guess the first question I should ask is who here knows any martial arts?"

"You're kidding, right?" one of the kids asked laughing. Yamcha just gave him a confused look and the boy motioned back to Videl. "Her last name is Satan for a reason." The scarred warrior turned and looked at the raven haired girl beside Gohan and raised an eyebrow. The nod from Gohan confirmed his thoughts and he smiled.

"Well now, this I hadn't expected." he said. For the first time since walking into the room he scanned the powers present and his eyes widened a little further. He'd certainly not expected her to be that strong! But then, living under the shadow of Hercule the last seven years, he figured she'd probably trained her self to the bone. In fact, she was near the limits of normal Human power now. Unless she learned Ki control she probably wouldn't be getting much stronger, and with Hercule as her father he doubted she would.

"Alright then... who else here knows any martial arts?" he asked. The rest of the class raised their hands save one blonde girl. "Now this I wasn't expecting either..."

"Mr. Sentif does this course every year." Sharpner said. "He starts it sooner when there's a Budokai, but he always does it. We signed up for this class specifically for that reason. Well, except Erasa here. She just likes to watch the guys spar." The class laughed and Erasa just shrugged.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have you all pair up with each other then." Yamcha said nodding.

Sharpner turned to Videl but before he could say anything she was talking to Gohan. "Hey, what do you say you and I pair..."

However, she'd not finished before Yamcha's voice interrupted her. "Oh, and Gohan, could you come over here?"

"Er, sorry Videl." Gohan said waving to her as he walked over to Yamcha. "So, what's up?"

"I want see how good Videl is." Yamcha said. "She's definitely strong, stronger than her father. But I'm interested in her skill."

"Why the interest?"

"Need some cash." he said with a shrug. "That's why I took this job when I heard about the opening. Tried getting back on the Titans but it seems I've been banned from Pro Ball."

"How is her skill going to...?"

"Well, once I know how skilled she is I'll be better at teaching her, no?" he asked grinning. "I mean, if she's this good on her own she'll be great after some actual training." He watched as Videl paired up with Sharpner and the two began sparring. It was obvious she wasn't even really challenged. "Speaking of sparring, how's yours been going? I know if Piccolo's been bugging me he's been at you too."

"What? You mean he's come to you about his bad feelings?"

"All of us actually. I've not really bothered with training though, if anything is up I wouldn't be of any help even if I did train. Krillin said the same but 18's training with him anyway. Seems she's after the prize money at the Budokai. Probably wants to get away from Master Roshi, not that I blame her. And I've seen Tien using the gravity rooms at Capsule Corp. once or twice in the last couple weeks."

Gohan glanced over to Yamcha before looking back toward the other students. "I slacked off so much over the last seven years that even with the training I've been doing I'm still not even half as strong as I was then..." He shook his head. "If something is coming, though I doubt it's anything as big as Cell was, Vegeta's probably going to be the one dealing with it this time. He's not stopped training since the Bojack incident."

Yamcha nodded. "I don't like thinking he's our best chance of survival though... Personally, I'm surprised he's not tried to take over the Earth now that Goku's gone and he's the strongest of us. I guess Bulma's whipped him into shape. If anyone could do it, it's her."

Gohan gave him a sideways glance but didn't say anything. A moment later Yamcha called out. "Videl! Could you come over here?"

She paused in mid kick and turned to look. With a shrug to Sharpner she turned and moved over to where Yamcha stood. "What is it?"

"Well, I could tell you weren't really getting anything out of sparring with him. Poor guy could barely even keep up." Sharpner frowned at that but went over to sit with Erasa for now. "So, I thought you might want to spar with me a little?"

Videl raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Gohan who was stepping aside to give the two of them room. She turned back to Yamcha and smiled. "Sure, ok." she said slipping into her fighting stance. Yamcha followed suit. The other students slowed in their sparring to see just how good their new teacher was.

"Ready when you are." he said simply.

Videl nodded and then pushed out with a kick. She only used about a quarter of her speed and strength, obviously testing Yamcha, who deflected the attack easily. She smiled a little and launched a punch with more power than her kick. Yamcha dodged it and threw his own quick jab at her abdomen. Videl slipped around it and put all of her power into a kick for Yamcha's chin.

The seasoned warrior grabbed her foot inches from his face. Videl used her other foot to jump and swung it toward Yamcha's head. He ducked under that and twisted the foot he held before letting go, spinning her over in the air and dropping her onto her face. By now the others' sparring had come to a complete stop as they watched Videl and the teacher spar. The girl thrust her arms out as she fell and sprung back up to her feet in an instant. "You're pretty good." she said looking at him. "Are you going to be in the Tournament next month?"

Yamcha shook his head. "Me? No, I wouldn't stand a chance against a few of this year's entrants."

"I think you would." Videl said. "You're at least as good as my dad. Well, at least as good as he was last time he let me spar with him. It's been four years so he's probably gotten better, but you'd definitely have a chance." Yamcha and Gohan exchanged glances with each other but didn't say anything.


	3. The Dangers of Being a Hero

_Chapter Three - The Dangers of Being a Hero_

Hercule High:

The rest of his classes had gone pretty well, and it turned out that Videl and Erasa were in his Astronomy class too. It also turned out that the teacher, a Mrs. Solaria, was quite strange. She was also of the opinion that pretty much everything that happened on Earth was the doing of an alien. She firmly believed that King Piccolo was an alien, that Bulma and her family were all aliens, including her parents, that Cell was an alien, and that Hercule was too, which made Videl only half Human. She had a fairly long list of people who were, according to her, all aliens.

She even claimed that Mr. Sentif's replacement was an alien. And when Gohan had talked to her at the beginning of the class she'd warned him about the aliens and part aliens in the class, and said that a Human like him should be careful. She wasn't prejudice against the aliens, but they were a sneaky bunch. By the time the class was actually starting he was having a hard time not laughing. Though, it turned out she was extremely knowledgable in her actual course. Not that she'd said anything he'd not already known from his trip to space as a kid, but that was an event no one else present had experienced.

Now, at last, the day was over and the school was letting out. As he stepped out into the light he stretched and yawned. He'd heard a lot of the other kids complaining about the homework they'd gotten in a few of his classes, but he didn't have any. Well, except Astronomy. He couldn't do that in class since it required locating a few stars in the night sky tonight. He'd already decided, as soon as he'd heard the assignment, he'd fly up to the lookout to do it. It'd be easier to see everything from up there.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and was about to begin the walk to the edge of the city so he could fly home when the sound of sirens reached his ears. Lots and lots of sirens. He moved passed the courtyard area and out onto the street and looked to his left where the sound was coming from. "What is it, do you think?" came a familiar voice, that of Sharpner.

"Sounds big." Erasa said. A second later five black vans rounded the corner and zipped passed them at least a hundred and twenty miles an hour. The windows were tinted black so he couldn't see in them but Gohan had sensed twelve people per van. As the last of them flew passed a stream of police cars rounded the corner as well and began zipping down the road. Gohan counted fifteen cars speed passed.

A sixteenth came to a quick and sudden stop at the entry to the school which had Gohan curious. A second later Videl was standing by the passanger door as the officer stuck his head out. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Remember those kidnappings from last week?" the officer started in a deep voice.

"Yeah, 10 kids were kidnapped from Hercule Elementry... is that them?"

The officer nodded. "We'd managed to track the kidnappers down to a house just outside of the city but before we could move in they took off with the kids."

Videl grabbed the back door of the car and opened it before climbing in. "Let's go." she ordered and the car lifted up and sped off.

Gohan just stood there dumbstruck for a second and then turned to Erasa who was still standing beside him. "Why'd she go with them?"

"She helps out the police now and then." Erasa replied. "Sometimes I worry about her but she's Hercule's daughter after all. Second strongest person on the planet and the strongest woman alive."

"Exactly." Sharpner said. "Those kidnappers wont know what hit them. Especially if Hercule comes down to help like he did last time."

Gohan wasn't so sure about that. Sure, Videl and Hercule were both pretty skilled and strong for the average Human, but that didn't mean they were invincible. Instead of heading off down the street as he'd planned he turned around and ran back into the school and up one of the stair cases. The door to the roof was locked but just pushing it broke that easily enough. As soon as he was outside again he launched straight up into the air and searched out the police cars by their lights, sounds, and the Ki of those in them and the vans.

By the time he found them they'd already come to a stop. The vans were inside a warehouse and the police had surrounded it. In a flash he sped off for the location. It only took him a few seconds to reach the area and land unseen in a dark alley. Peeking around the corner he saw Videl talking with several of the police officers there and began debating what to do. Finally he decided just to walk up and play it by ear.

Moving from the alley he jogged over to where the police and Videl were standing and talking. "Young man, you'll have to go back." one of the officers said as he spied him.

Videl turned to see who the officer was talking too. "Gohan?" she asked suprised. "How'd you get here so quick?"

"Er..." he'd not thought of an excuse he suddenly realized. "There was a taxi nearby, I just had him follow you." he said grinning and scratching the back of his head. He wasn't the greatest of liars but considering the situation Videl simply passed off his nervousness as embarresment.

"Well, you're better than nothing." she said looking back to the warehouse. "I don't think even dad and I can handle fifty people at once..."

The police officers just looked from her to Gohan and back to her not sure what was happening. It was Gohan that broke the silence. "What do you mean, fifty people at once?"

"The kidnappers. There's only two of them in charge, but they've got 48 hired guns with them as protection." Videl explained motioning him over to where she stood. As he reached her she pointed at the screen on the police computer she held. It was a green display of the area, a Bio-metric Radar. The black lines marked walls and the dark green dots marked people. Inside the warehouse he could easily make out sixty dots. Ten hostages and the fifty people holding them captive.

"You mean you're going in there? Isn't that the job of the police?" he asked.

"Normally." Videl replied. "But in a situation like this either my father or I deal with it, or both of us when there's this many. It's the least I can do, anyway. What's the point in being strong if you're not going to help people?"

Gohan had to admit she had a point. He'd just never really considered it on such a lower scale before. Always on world threats or bigger. But then, there were already other people trained to handle the smaller details like this. Still, he couldn't just let her go in by herself. "So, are you going to help or not?" she asked him.

One of the officers finally stepped forward. "Um, are you sure that's a good idea Ms. Videl?" he asked. "I mean... it's dangerous in there..."

"Gohan will be fine." she said. "He's almost as strong as I am." With that said she turned back to Gohan. "Well?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll help." he said.

Videl nodded and turned back to the officer. "How far away is dad?"

"Should be here in the next five minutes." the officer replied.

"We don't have that long to wait, come on Gohan, dad can catch up." she said running from the police baracade of cars toward the warehouse. Gohan hesitated a moment and then chased after her catching up just as she reached the building and pressed her back against the steel wall near the door.

Gohan stepped up beside her and focused his mind on those inside. "Videl, there's probably someone guarding the door." he said softly. He knew that, in fact, there were three people on the door. "We shouldn't go right in the front."

Videl stood there in thought for a moment. Normally she wouldn't give it a second thought but she wasn't sure how well Gohan would perform under the current conditions. She didn't want him catching a bullet because of her. "Any ideas?" she whispered back.

He nooded. "I saw a ladder on the left side of the building on the way over here." he replied softly. "We can get a view of the interior from the roof, these warehouses usually have skylights. That'll give us a better idea of where everyone is and where to make our entrance."

She gave a quick nod and moved off in that direction, Gohan right behind her. A moment later they rounded the corner and Videl spied the ladder Gohan had mentioned. "Crap, it's no good Gohan, it's too high." she said moving under it. The warehouse was about sixty feet tall, the bottom of the ladder was a good twenty feet up.

He stood under the lader and held his arms out. "I'll give you a boost up."

"What about you?"

He nodded over to the warehouse beside them. There was only about five feet between the two buildings and their ladders lined up directly across from each other, and the other came all the way to the ground. "I can climb up that one and then jump over."

"You sure?" 

"No sweat."

Videl grinned and then stepped up into Gohan's cupped hands. He pushed her up and she jumped at the top of his thrust. He made sure not to give the push too much power and she managed to grab the third rung of the lader and pull herself up. By the time she reached the top Gohan was already half way up the other ladder. With a glance over his shoulder her pushed off and used a little of his energy to more glide than jump onto the opposite ladder. A moment later he was up with her and they moved quickly and silently across the roof.

They reached one of the skylights and peeked down inside. The kids were huddled together in the center of the warehouse, two guards on either side of them. There were three on the front door, two at each of the two large garage doors, and the rest were standing or walking around randomly. "There's no pattern..." Gohan said looking them over, making sure he could see everyone he could sense. There were two more somewhere he couldn't see. "And I only count 48 men in masks."

"Their employers must be in hiding." Videl surmised. "Look down that way, the back door up on the second level. There's no one on it."

Gohan looked and sure enough she was right. There was no one on the second level at all. "We could get in that way easily." he said. "And if we're careful we can take out most of these guys before they even realize we're inside. We need to be careful, they may shoot at the hostages instead of us..."

"Yeah..." Videl said as her gaze moved back to the kids, the youngest was five and the oldest eight.

She was about to say more when a loud voice sounded from the front of the warehouse. "Alright you scum! The Champ is here now! You let those kids go right now or I'm coming in there and pounding all of you into pulp!"

"Ugh, daaaaad." Videl moaned. "Such a show off."

Gohan laughed. That was definitely the Hercule he remembered from the Cell Games. Or at least, the start of the Cell Games. He also smiled at what he saw inside the warehouse. The masked men had become very nervous now, fidgeting about considerably. A lot of them had even moved closer to the front and were standing with their guns at the ready for when Hercule barged in. "But he's a great distraction." he said with a small nod to what he'd noticed.

"You're right. Let's go." Videl ordered as she ran from the skylight to the back of the warehouse. She soon saw why the back door wasn't guarded, the walkway on the outside was missing, the door opened to empty air. "Lower me down, I'll kick the door in."

Gohan nodded as she climbed down and hung by her hands from the edge of the roof. He took hold of her wrists and lowered her down using his ki to keep himself firmly on the roof. Once Videl was able to put her feet against the door she did and then pushed off and Gohan swung her out and then back in. Her feet crashed against the door and it snapped open halfway before stopping, its own weight making it hard to move.

Gohan swung her again and this time let go of her wrists so she could land inside the doorway. Sticking her head out she looked up at Gohan. "Lower yourself down. I'll hold your feet, use the sign for a hand grip."

He nodded and lowered down. It only took a moment to make it inside the building. The two of them moved over to the railing and gazed down into the almost empty warehouse. The only things inside were the people and the five vans. Gohan sensed the two in hiding in the back of the Van right under him and Videl. They heard Hercule's muffled voice call out again. "This is your last warning, surrender now or I'm coming in!"

Gohan saw a few of the masked men swallow and grip their weapons tighter. He glanced over the railing and looked straight down. The doors to the van were open and a masked man was standing behind it apparently guarding those inside. Gohan motioned down at him and then at the van. Videl nodded in understanding. In unison they pulled themselves over the railing and dropped down. They both landed on the man's head knocking him out instantly.

As they stood they saw two men in business suits inside the van who were staring at them in fear and shock. Videl leapt up and into the van and punched both of them in the jaw as she landed, knocking them out. Standing back up she turned and gave Gohan a thumbs up. He nodded and moved to the side of the van and looked out, Videl coming to stand beside him. By now everyone had their attentions diverted to the front of the warehouse.

"Wait for dad to make his move." Videl whispered. "While they're distracted with him being seconds away we'll come up from behind."

"Right."

They only had to wait a few more moments before Hercule's voice sounded once again. "Alright, that's it, your time is up! I'm coming in!"

"Now." Videl hissed.

The men had turned their backs completely on the unseen pair of teens and were preparing to deal with Hercule's attack. The two moved from behind the van and ran across the room. They split up each taking a side of the warehouse and had a total of eight guys downed before someone noticed them and called the others. As they turned and readied to fire Hercule's voice came yet again, much closer and louder now. "Megaton Kick!" The front door was knocked off its hinges and crashed to the ground as Hercule came flying in, his foot outstretched from his jump kick.

The masked men were torn between the still charging teens and the now attacking Hercule. After a few seconds a few of them managed to get off a few shots but those were soon silenced as Hercule's fist knocked out the last of them. Gohan looked around for any more and saw Videl kneeling on one knee and her hand clamped on her left leg, red blood trickling down her leg from under her fingers. "Videl!" Gohan called running over to her.

"Hey, stay away from my daughter you..."

"It's okay dad. He's with me." she said grimacing. "And I'm okay Gohan..." she moved her hand. "See, just got grazed."

As Gohan reached her and checked her leg he realized she wasn't exactly right. The bullet had hit her head on but had done little more than bruise her and break open the skin. He doubted she'd believe him if her told her she was nearly bullet proof so he decided not to mention it.

Meanwhile Hercule had come over to them as well and was looking at the injury too. "And what do you mean this skinny guy is with you?" he asked.

"His name is Gohan." Videl said as she stood up and put some weight on her leg testing it. She grimaced a little but it wasn't more than she could handle. "He just started at school, he's a really good fighter. Nearly as strong as me."

"Wha?" Hercule turned to look at Gohan who was grinning and scratching the back of his head, laughing nervously. "He certainly doesn't look that strong... But, I guess if he managed to keep up with you he must be pretty good. Say, what was it, 'Gohan'?"

"Er, yes sir."

"You going to be entering in the tournament this year?" he asked. "It'd be nice to have some good competition for once."

"Er, well... I really only fight to keep in shape these days..."

"Aw, come on!" Hercule said. "Hey, the prize money is a hundred million Zennie this year!"

"Wha! A... a hundred million Zennie!?" Gohan cried in suprise.

Hercule nodded. "Had them raise it myself hoping it'd bring in some good fighters for once."

"Wow... with a hundred million Zennie mom wouldn't have to worry about the bills ever again..."

"So, what do you say?"

Gohan sighed. "Well, I'll have to ask my mom about it. She doesn't like me fighting... But sure, I'll see what I can do."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Otherworld, Grand Kai's planet:

The crowds once again filled the Otherworld Stadium for yet another Otherworld Games. And, just like in the previous one, the finals had come down to Pikkon and Goku. The two were currently going at it in the ring quite fiercely. Pikkon had already removed his weights and Goku had transformed. It was obvious to the Grand Kai that this tournament was going differently than the last one however. The first time Goku had only won due to ingenuity and a ring out. Pikkon had been the superior in strength by a vast amount. This time, however, Goku had the upper hand in power. Not as much as Pikkon had had previously, but enough to tip things in his favor.

"So, that's him then? The Sai-jin you told me about?" a gentle voice asked from the shadows behind the Grand Kai.

"Yes. Goku is by far the most skilled and exceptional fighter in Otherworld. The strongest mortal period, in fact. His son used to be around this level but seven years of relaxation has greatly weakened him. If there truly is a darkness over the horizon Goku is the one you want."

The man in the shadows nodded. "He nearly exceeds even our power." he said after a moment. "How is it that we missed one as him?"

"The same way I missed him becoming so powerful." the Grand Kai said. "This brewing forboding has distracted us all."

"Indeed. I had hoped the universe would enjoy an eternity of safety with the end of Majin Buu." He was silent for a moment as the two fighters in the ring vanished from sight. "It would seem, however, that at least this time we may have some help."

"What if Ken is right?" the Grand Kai asked. "What if Majin Buu is somehow returning?"

"If that is so... then we are all doomed." he said softly as a streak fell from the sky and slammed into the ring unmoving. Goku floated down and landed at the rings edge powering down out of Super. "So, have you made the needed arrangements?"

"Yes." he paused as he watched the declaration of Goku as Otherworld Champion. "Everything is ready."

"Good. Hopefully he'll be able to head off this danger before it gets too great..."


	4. Out of the Darkness

_Chapter Four - Out of the Darkness_

The Lookout:

Piccolo walked out of the shrine atop the Lookout and made his way over to where Dende stood. "It's getting stronger." he said gruffly as he approached.

The short Guardian nodded. "Something big is coming... something very big."

"Well then, perhaps I should make my next visit to Otherworld a bit more permanent." Baba said as she floated up from below the Lookout sitting atop her cyrstal ball.

"I'm not even sure how safe that would be." Piccolo said scowling slightly. "I can't sense any unknown powers that are very high, but I can feel an immense darkness... an evil like nothing I've ever felt. And it's growing daily. On top of that I have this sense of dread, something big is about to happen soon, something _very_ big."

"I definitely don't like the sound of that." Baba said. "Anyway, I need to be going. It seems King Yemma wants to speak with me." She floated passed Piccolo and into the shrine. The taller Namek watched her enter the shrine curious as to what King Yemma would want with her.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Warehouse:

It had taken a half hour to round up the kidnappers and get the parents of the children to the warehouse. Gohan and Videl had stayed behind in case any of the kidnappers woke up and caused more trouble. Now the last of them was being hauled off to jail and the commotion was dying down. When the news crews had arrived, shortly before Hercule left, Gohan asked Videl and her father to not mention him because he didn't want his mom worrying about him. Not entirely the truth, but close enough.

Hercule hammed it up as usual, and claimed Videl's entrance the back way had all been part of his plan. And they mentioned a third person helped them but that he wished to remain unnamed and left it at that. After the news crews had gone Hercule had left as well. And now it was just Gohan, Videl, and one last officer who had offered to give them both a lift home. "So, where to young man?" the officer asked as Gohan and Videl approached.

Gohan wasn't exactly sure what to say. Getting a ride home would take longer than flying, and besides, he wanted to go to Capsule Corp., and that was in West City, even further away than his house. He needed a place to be taken in the city that he could take off from... "Could you... give me a lift to the Capsule Corp Center here in town?" he asked at last.

"Sure, no problem." the guy said climbing into the car. Videl and Gohan followed suit and the car lifted off and started on its way. "Hercule's mansion is on the way so I'll drop you off first Ms. Videl."

"Ok." she said leaning back in the seat and relaxing.

"How's your leg?" Gohan asked.

"Hmm? Oh, it's fine now." she said rubbing it a little. "Like I said, just a flesh wound."

Gohan shook his head slowly and had a feeling Yamcha was right. Videl was great with having just trained with her father and on her own, a little training from Yamcha or anyone with Ki control... He let the idea slide though. He wasn't so sure about it. It'd definitely make Videl better, but there was the chance she'd end up learning a few things he didn't want any of his new friends knowing. Not so soon at least. Like the fact he was the one that beat Cell, or that he was part alien. And he wasn't so sure how well Videl would take learning that her father really hadn't beaten Cell, that he'd just taken the credit for it.

The rest of the ride went in silence until they said their good-byes outside her house. And then the officer drove him into downtown and the Capsule Corp. Center. "Thanks for the lift."

"Sure, no problem." the officer said with a wave before pulling off.

Gohan dug into his bag and pulled out the Capsule Corp. ID card that Bulma had given him a couple years before. Turning he made his way inside and over to the counter where a receptionist was sitting. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"Um..." he showed her his ID card. "Where's the elevator to the top floors?"

"Oh, right over there Mr. Son." she said motioning to the far wall. Turning to look he saw the card reader. He gave her a nod and walked over to it. As soon as he swiped the card the elevator opened and he stepped in. The top floors of these buildings were used for classified research. Gohan knew that Bulma's time travel research and her Nano-Machine research were housed on the top floor of the building.

However, that wasn't what he was after. These elevators also went all the way up to the roof. It would be the perfect place for him to take off from for his trip to West City. It might be a good idea to send a message to his mom too. As he pushed the button for the roof he took the phone out of it's box and dialed home.

"Son residence!" Goten's cheery voice called out.

"Oh, hey Goten. I thought you were going to play with Trunks today?"

"I was, but Bulma never came by." he pouted. "Mom called her about ten minutes ago though so she's on her way over now. So, what's up?"

"I'm actually about to head off to Capsule Corp. myself to talk to Bulma. Could you let mom know?"

"Ok!" Goten cheered.

"Alright squirt, I have to go, I'll talk to you later." he said as the doors opened onto the roof. Goten said good-bye as well and the two hung up. Gohan stepped outside once more and lifted into the air. After getting his bearings he sped off toward West City. He wasn't in too much of a hurry, Bulma had to get to his place and then back to Capsule Corp so it'd take her a while.

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Capsule Corp, Lab 07:

Mirai sighed as he looked at the blackboard full of calculations. Fifty square feet of math. The time traveler was still trying to figure out two things. One, how his mother, no matter what the time period was, always roped him into working. And two, what was wrong with the math. He and Bulma had figured out that the machine was working just fine, but her solution wasn't enough to get the right charge.

So now they were working on the math to figure out what the right solution amount was. As well as figuring out where she went wrong to begin with. They'd spent the entire day working on it and hadn't even realized it until Trunks came in asking when Bulma was going to get Goten. After which the boy had gone into hyper mode upon seeing his older half back already. It had taken him a good twenty minutes to get him out of the lab.

Mirai was about to adjust something on the blackboard when he heard a rustling sound. He paused and looked around the lab. Nothing seemed off. But then he felt it. A faint power that seemed to be rising and falling steadily, almost like breathing or a heart beat. "Who's there?" he called out moving towards the energy. It was behind some piles of scrap metal in the corner. He was a few feet away when the rustling sound came again. Suddenly a small shadow seemed to run from behind the metal.

As it bolted away the power fluctuated faster. Mirai only got quick glimpse of what looked like a black cat. But not a normal black cat. This thing seemed to have no actual substance, like it was made of shadow. There were whisps of shadow like darkness just drifting up from it. "What the..." he breathed as it ran around a corner and down a hall. It took a moment for him to shake off the oddity and he ran out into the hall and chased after it.

He saw it clear as day racing down the hall. It was the only darkness to be seen and it was casting no shadow. He ran after it and gained quickly. As he reached another bend that it had taken a second before he saw it leap at the wall where a metal crate was casting a pitch black shadow. It passed into the darkness and vanished from his sight and Ki senses.

Mirai came to a stop at the shadow and examined the area for any signs of a hole but there was nothing unusual. "What the hell was that?" he wondered standing again. "Could... could mom's invention have done that?" He turned and made his way back to the lab contemplating the matter. "It could have been some sort of echo maybe... mom's theorized about alternate realities... maybe that was some sort of resonance with a parallel realm?" As he entered the lab he gazed at his mother's invention and wondered if it was having an unexpected side effect.

"Well, I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions like that." he said at last. "That... thing could have been a lot of things. Including my imagination after staring at those numbers for so long."

"Taken to talking to yourself now, have you?" Gohan asked from the doorway.

"Gohan!" Mirai cried turning and smiling. "I didn't realize you were there. How've you been?"

"Good." he said walking in. "I didn't expect you back until next month."

"Mom thought a vacation would be good for me now that our world is finally back in one piece." he explained. "It's good to see you again."

"You too." he said with a nod. "Guess I beat Bulma here then?"

"Yeah, she should be back in a few minutes. So, what's up?"

Gohan sighed. "Well. Mom decided I should start going to school at an acutal school. You know, make some friends of my own, my own age and all. Today was the first day, and it went pretty well. Well, the school part did." He then went on to explain the fight before class and then the little mission he'd accompained Videl on afterwards.

"Wait, you're friends with Hercule's daughter?" Mirai asked laughing.

"Crazy world, isn't it?" Gohan said shaking his head. "But she's an amazing fighter. Almost as strong as Master Roshi. And you should have seen Hercule at the warehouse. When he's up against normal people and not super powered bio-engineered killing machines he's really good. I finally got a chance to see where his ego comes from."

"Catching up are we?" Bulma asked walking in. "So Gohan, what brings you by?"

"Well..." he said scratching the back of his head and then told Bulma about the warehouse incident. "It would be a lot easier to deal with stuff like that if I didn't have to worry about people at school recognizing me later... If I hadn't had to hold back Videl wouldn't have gotten shot..."

"Ooooh, got a crush on her do you?" Bulma asked.

"Wha?! No, no, it's not like that!" Gohan said waving his arms.

"Sure, whatever you say Gohan. So, you want a disguise of some kind then?"

"Yeah, I figured if anyone could help me out you could."

"No problem. Just give me an hour or two. I'll be back when I'm done. In the meantime, you can help Mirai out." With that she turned and left.

Mirai shook his head. "And she's even able to rope you into doing her work." With a sigh he turned to face the blackboard again, all thoughts of the shadowy cat temporarily forgotten. "I guess we should get to work..."

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Capsule Corp, Lab 15:

"What if your mom catches us in here Trunks?" Goten asked looking around.

"Don't be such a crybaby Goten. Mom's at the other end of the building." Trunks said frowning. "Anyway, I know it's in here somewhere." The child flicked on the light and the lab lit up bright as day.

"What are we looking for anyway?"

"The spare Dragon Radar." he explained.

"What for?"

"I had a great idea for a wish last night. We're going to wish for a box that will create any food we want it to whenever we want it." the chibi said grinning. "Think about it Goten, an unlimited supply of anything we want to eat!"

"That's great Trunks!" Goten cheered practically drooling at the prospects the wish presented. "Now our mom's threats of no food wont matter!"

"Exactly!"

"So, where should we look?"

"You take this side of the lab, I'll take the other."

"Ok." Goten nodded and started poking through cabinets and boxes. Trunks moved to the other side of the room and started digging through things as well. It took the two chibis only fifteen minutes to locate the spare Dragon Radar sitting in a desk drawer. "Got it!" Goten chirped holding it up.

"Alright Goten!" Trunks cheered running over to him. "Ok, now, let's see where they are." he said taking it from the other and turning it on. A few clicks and he saw all seven Dragonballs. "What the?" he wondered looking at the blinking lights. "Six of them are already gathered up north..."

"Where's the seventh?" Goten asked.

"Way down south, but it's heading north kinda fast..." He watched it for a moment before saying anything else. "If we leave now we can get to the other six first and see who's gathering them."

"Ok."

The two turned and ran from the lab and through the halls. As they passed the lab Bulma was in, Trunks called to her. "Goten and I are going out to explore and train, we'll be back later!" By the time the last of it was out of his mouth they were leaving the lab area and moving through the main lobby. A moment later they were outside and flying north as fast as they could go.

Trunks kept his eyes on the radar as he flew. "Yeah, we'll definitely beat whoever has the seventh ball to the other six." he called over to Goten. "They're way slower than we are."

"Hey Trunks... where are we anyway? I've never been up this way before..."

Trunks thought for a moment as he looked around. "I think Ginger Town is off to the east a little from here..." he said. "So then... the Dragonballs are..." He looked ahead as they began to pass over ocean. "I think mom said the Yunzabit Heights were out here."

"Yunzabit Heights? Why would anyone take the Dragonballs out there?"

"Don't know. But I guess we'll be finding out." They flew the rest of the way in silence and a few moments later the rocky peaks of the Yunzabit Heights came into view. Trunks motioned and the two dropped down behind a rock outcropping and gazed down into the canyon below them. There sat the other six Dragonballs pulsing slowly and in sync with each other. There was no one else in sight and neither boy could sense anyone either.

"So, there's no one here?" Goten wondered. "That's strange..."

"Yeah. They left the Dragonballs unguarded and out in the open... I think we should wait for whoever it is though. See what's going on."

"Yeah, you're right."

The two boys settled down behind a large rock to shield themselves from the strong and cold wind as they watched the blinking dot of the Dragonball near them. It took a few minutes for it to get close and then Trunks switched off the radar and moved to look back down into the canyon, Goten doing the same.

A moment later a large and unusual creature landed by the Dragonballs, the seventh held in his hand. His body was large, about six and half foot tall, muscular, and scaled. Small black horns sat upon his forhead, his red eyes were slanted and angular, his face was Human in structure, though without a nose, and somewhat frog like. Upon his forehead, between the horns, was a third, vertical, pure black eye.

"Who is that?" Goten asked.

"More like what..." Trunks said as the figure set the last Dragonball down. "Shh, he's saying something."

"At last!" he cried happily. "After a little over two years I have them all! Getting that one from the Sai-jin's house was a bit more tricky than I'd expected, it's a good thing the kid left when he did. The woman was easy enough to handle... now, to summon the dragon!"

"Trunks... wasn't that the four star ball he had?" Goten asked.

"I think so..."

"Then... the kid would have been me... and the woman... MOM!"

The man down in the canyon looked up and frowned, the edges of his third eye moving apart so more of it was exposed. "Who's up there! Show yourselves!" he demanded raising an arm toward the sound he'd heard, red and black energy sparking around his palm.

Goten climbed out from behind the rock and looked down at the creature below him who at first looked shocked and then annoyed at who had found him. "What'd you do to my mom!" Goten yelled down.

The creature laughed. "Don't worry too much kid, she's still alive. Killing her would have attracted too much attention." He lowered his arm as the energy dissipated. "Now, get lost brat! I've matters to attend to!"

"If you attacked Chi-Chi..." Trunks said stepping up beside Goten. "Then you must be a bad guy! So we're not going to let you make your wish!"

The man smirked. "You think so? Well, I don't think you can stop me." he laughed. "The great Captain Ginyu has only lost one fight, and that was luck! You wont find yourselves quite so lucky!"

"We'll see about that!" Trunks called lifting into the air. Goten soon followed suit and the two boys charged down at Ginyu sure that they were stronger. They were only feet away and about to attack when Ginyu's energy suddenly spiked up, his fists lancing out and connecting with their faces. The boys were knocked back into the rocks and out cold.

"I'd kill you now, but I don't want to alert the others just yet..." he said walking over to them. His third eye opened wider and and a stream of black energy shot at each boy's head. "There. Now to finish up here." He turned back to the Dragonballs grinning. "Arise Eternal Dragon and grant my wish!"

The balls pulsed furiously as the sky darkened quickly. Clouds appeared from nowhere and lightning flashed. A bolt of energy surged down from the sky and slammed into the Dragonballs. There was a blinding flash and another bolt surged into the sky snaking about this way and that. A moment later the large form of Shenron filled the sky above Ginyu. It lowered its head, its red eyes glowing slightly. **"You who have summoned me to this plane, I shall grant you two wishes. Speak now and it shall be so!"** Shenron boomed.

Ginyu cackled in excitement. "I'm not sure if you can do this first wish, but let's find out!" Ginyu called up. "I wish for my Master to be free of the crystal that contains him!"

The Dragon's eyes glowed for a moment and then faded. **"It cannot be done."** he boomed.

Ginyu merely nodded. "Didn't think so. Tejina's magic was pretty powerful I've come to find... Well then. Seems I only have one wish for you! After that you can leave."

**"Very well, what is your wish?"**

He smirked. "I want you to send me to the Demon Realm!"

**"It shall be done."** Shenron's eyes glowed brightly and then Ginyu vanished. A moment later the Dragonballs sparked, flashed, and Shenron vanished. The seven orbs lifted into the sky and then scattered as the clouds and darkness faded away.


	5. The Reiketsukan

_Chapter Five - The Reiketsukan_

The Lookout:

Dende felt something tugging at him at from the north and walked along the Lookout gazing out over the Earth. He paused as he thought he saw something just over the horizon. At first he thought it was merely a powerful storm but a couple seconds later it vanished and he saw streaks of light surge away. "Piccolo!" Dende called turning. "Someone summoned Shenron!"

The powerful Namek ran over to where Dende stood. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. In the Yunzabit Heights area."

"I'll go check it out." Piccolo said jumping off the Lookout and diving toward the Earth. He let himself freefall for a moment before bolting off toward Yunzabit Heights at full speed. It only took him a moment to reach its edges and then he felt out with his mind for any sign of who had summoned the dragon. He felt a low power a little to the east and moved off that way. A second later he was landing in the canyon where Goten and Trunks lay, slowly starting to stir.

He growled as he saw the Dragon Radar clutched in Trunks' hand. "I suppose it was you two who summoned Shenron then?"

"Huh? P-Piccolo?" Goten wondered yawning and stretching. "Oh, my head..." he moaned rubbing it. "Trunks... what happened?"

The other boy shook his head. "I don't know Goten... I... I kind of remember summoning the Dragon..."

Goten nodded. "Yeah, we wished for our box, and then when we tried to use it it blew up!"

Trunks groaned. "We probably tried to get too much food at one time. Man, what a waste of a wish!"

"Does Bulma know you two are up here?" Piccolo asked.

"Er... um... no..." Trunks said. "Come on Piccolo, don't tell her, please!?"

"Just get lost!"

The two boys nodded and bolted off toward Capsule Corp. again. Piccolo sighed as he looked around. His feeling of dread had both subsided and grown at the same time. He wasn't sure what that meant but he knew he didn't like it. With one last glance at the canyon he took off for the Lookout again.

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Otherworld, King Yemma's Check-in Station:

"So then, that's what you wanted?" Baba asked smiling. The large Yemma nodded. "I can definitely swing that, especially since I'll actually have the backing of Otherworld this time."

Yemma laughed. "Yes, I figured if anyone could do it you could Baba."

"So then, when should we arrange this for?"

"Well, it seems Earth is going to be holding a Budokai next month." Yemma said. "And it also seems that Gohan is thinking of entering. We'll wait and see how that pans out... if his mother agrees..."

Baba nodded. "Then I'll be heading off to the Grand Kai's to await your word."

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Earth, Son Home:

The rest of the day had gone by without much happening so far. Bulma had returned to Lab 07 to find that Mirai and Gohan had fixed her calculations and had given the younger of the two his disguise. A simple watch that used capsule technology to conceal his new 'Super Hero Costume'. After trying it on he'd gone through half a dozen names before deciding on Saiyaman, at which point he'd struck the corniest pose either of the other two in the room had ever seen, though neither had the heart to let him know.

He'd gotten home just as Chi-Chi was finishing making supper and he got roped into flying her into town to see the doctor. Apparently she'd fainted shortly after Bulma and Goten had left. The doctors hadn't found anything wrong and told her she had probably just overworked herself. They'd told her to take the next couple of days easy and sent them home. Gohan had just landed in their front yard and was setting Chi-Chi back down when he sensed Piccolo landing behind him.

"What's up, Piccolo?" Gohan asked turning around.

"I figured I'd let you know the four star ball is gone, before you found it missing." he said simply, as Chi-Chi walked into the house. "Apparently Goten and Trunks made a wish for some kind of food generating box, which then blew up on them. They're okay, but now we're out of the Dragonballs for a few months... and I don't like that."

"I think you're worrying about nothing Piccolo." Gohan said. "I mean, nothing's happened yet and you've had this feeling for months now..."

"Yes, but, 'yet' is the key word Gohan. Something is going to happen." He paused for a moment and sighed. "And I think it's been more than a few months to tell the truth. Kami had a nagging bad feeling that had grown slowly over the years for centuries. After a while it sort of just faded into the background noise, he got used to it being there. Dende's had it too, even after Cell was destroyed he still had it, though at a lower level. Now it's grown to the point we can't miss it, can't overlook it. Something big is coming, something that's been on its way for a very long time."

Gohan nodded. "Well, I can't train tonight. Mom fainted earlier so I'm going to do the housework, let her get some rest. But I'll pick up again first thing tomorrow." Piccolo gave him a nod and took off for the Lookout again. Turning Gohan made his way inside and found Chi-Chi cleaning up the dishes from supper. "Mom, you're supposed to be getting some rest." he said moving over and taking the plates from her and putting them in the sink. "I'll deal with this stuff tonight."

"Thanks Gohan, but I'm feeling a lot better now, really." Chi-Chi said picking up a dish towel. "I'll be fine."

"Well, at least let me help."

She paused for a moment and then handed him the towel. "You can dry."

The two of them worked in silence for a while before Gohan suddenly remembered Hercule's suggestion that afternoon. His mom had asked him about his first day of school on the trip to the doctors but he'd yet to mention that Videl was Hercule's daughter, or the details about the Budokai. "Oh, mom. Remember that girl I told you about, Videl?"

"Hmm, yes, what about her?" she asked.

"Well, it turns out she's a fighter." he said simply. "Of course, she's Hercule's daughter so it's und..."

"Hercule's daughter!? Who in their right mind would marry that oaf!?"

Gohan couldn't help but laugh and it took him a moment to regain his composure. "That's not very nice mom. Anyway, I was talking to her and Hercule after school and they both asked if I'd be entering the tournament..." He saw Chi-Chi visibly tense up but kept going. "Anyway, they told me the prize money is the highest ever this year, a hundred million Zennie!"

Chi-Chi stopped in her work. "That's a lot of money!" she said shocked, turning to look at Gohan.

He nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I mean, we're running low on the money we do have saved, and it's going to be a few years yet before I graduate... I was thinking I could enter and if I won you wouldn't have to worry about the bills anymore. And... it would be kind of fun to fight in a Budokai like dad did..." He paused for a moment and then remembered what Videl had told him at the Warehouse, while Hercule had been talking to the press. "The school even lets the students take the two weeks before the tournament off so they can train, and the day of, the entire school is off for it, since it's on a Friday anyway."

Chi-Chi remained silent for a moment thinking. "Ok." she said at last. "You can enter. And I bet Goten's going to want to enter too."

_-Me too!- _a voice cheered in both of their heads. The two stopped and glanced at each other, both wondering if they'd gone insane. _-Hey guys, long time no see!-_

"D-dad!"

"G-Goku, is... is that really you?" Chi-Chi asked looking around.

_-Yep, thanks to Baba!- _he said happily. _-It seems that Baba had been planning on getting me a day pass back to Earth for sometime now, and both King Kai and Yemma think it's a good idea too, so they've set it up for the day of the tournament!-_

"You... you're... you're coming back!?" Gohan cried.

_-Yep! Only for a day though, but I'm definitely going to be entering in the tournament! Hey Gohan, can you let the others know? I bet Piccolo and Vegeta are going to want to enter now too!-_

"Y-yeah, sure." Gohan said.

_-Well, I'd like to talk longer guys but I can't. I'll see you in month, bye!-_

"W-wait, Goku! Goku!" Chi-Chi called looking around but got no response. The two of them just looked at each other for several minutes before grinning like a pair of idiots. "Oh, your father's coming back!"

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Tuesday, April 6th. Hercule City, 1st National Bank:

The day had been interesting so far. History class had started as a disscussion about the Cell Games and ended with them watching the Life of Hercule: A True Z! Maplewood Story. Videl had practically buried her head in her hands, especially when everyone commented about what a cute kid she'd been. Mr. Histora had announced that they'd spend the last three days of the week watching the movie that had come out the previous year, 'The Cell Games: Ultimate Showdown' even though it was more fiction than reality.

Gohan asked Videl and Erasa about that on the way to gym class and found out that the company that made it had latched onto the idea of the strange fighters at the tournament. Instead of making them frauds and tricksters like they 'actually were' they were made into a collection of robots created by Robo Corp. and the Earth military to combat Cell, a run-away genetic experiment of the demented scientist Dr. Death. Of course, Hercule still came out on top in the end. He had a feeling it'd be entertaining.

About 10 minutes into gym class Videl got a call from the Hercule City P.D. about a bank robbery at the 1st National Bank in town. And with that she'd taken off. Gohan had gone over to speak with Yamcha as soon as Videl was gone and a minute later he was gone as well, glad that this was happening during a class where he could get away. Now he was standing atop the building across the street from the Bank, where he'd been for about five minutes. Videl had arrived a couple minutes after him and was currently talking with the police.

He decided he'd stay back for now, unless he was needed. He watched as Videl moved to stand across the street from the bank. "Alright, you're not getting away, get out here!" she called putting her hands on her hips. Suddenly the door opened and a fairly large man walked out. He was fairly strong but no match for Videl.

"Here I am girl." he said smirking. "The others are still inside though. Now, where's your father?"

"He's busy elsewhere and doesn't have time for you Spoppovitch!"

The man growled. "I'm going to make him pay for what he did last year! Now, you get him out here or we start shooting people!"

"How about you go through me first?" Videl said crossing her arms.

"Fine, if it'll get Hercule down here, let's go!" he said walking down the steps. Videl slipped into a fighting stance as he charged her. His large fists swung for her head and she dodged. No matter what he tried to do she simply dodged around it. "Stand still brat!" Videl narrowed her eyes as she ducked under another punch and then brought her knee up into his stomach. Overhead, above everyone, a bird made of shadow circled the area gazing down at the events below.

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Earth, Unknown Location:

The black crystal pulsed as the yellow eyes appeared once more. They glowed brightly as the crystal pulsed more. Black energy, steam like wisps of shadow, lifted from the crystal as the being within flexed its powers. _"Yes... you'll do nicely. Let's see what the kid can do..." _the being thought with laugh. _"Now, Awaken the Darkness! Arise to my call!"_

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Hercule City, 1st National Bank:

The bird circling above the area suddenly dove down toward Spoppovitch. Gohan saw it as it passed but didn't think anything of it until it flew right into Spoppovitch's chest as the man got back to his feet after Videl's blow. Spoppovitch reached up and grabbed his head as he let out a scream of pain. Sparks of energy began to encircle his body and Gohan's eyes widened as the large man lifted into the air and his power began to climb.

Videl took a step back, her eyes wide in wonder as Spoppovitch threw his arms back and his muscles began to grow. Suddenly a red and black aura flared up around him and hid him from view. That lasted for a moment, casting a red glow over the entire area, and then faded. He fell to the ground and dropped to his knees panting for a moment and Gohan couldn't believe the increase in power he'd gained. From less than half Videl's power to almost ten times more than Hercule's...

He was a good foot taller than he had been, bald, and his veins were visible. His clothes were stretched to their max as he stood up, his muscles having grown twice the size they had been. His eyes opened and Gohan saw that they were now red, and then he got a bigger shock as the center of his forehead opened sideways slightly to reveal a solid black eye. "What the... hell?" Videl wondered looking at him as he laughed.

Suddenly he reached out and grabbed one of the police cars beside him. Videl took another step back as she swallowed a lump in her throat. "What the hell..." she repeated.

"M-maybe it's drugs?" one of the officers stammered.

Spoppovitch let out a growl as he pitched the car at Videl. Gohan didn't waste a second and dropped down in front of her quickly. He caught the car easily, only a few yards away from her. She'd cringed as she saw it coming but slowly opened her eyes as the sudden impact never came. Her eyes widened even more as she saw a guy with a red cape, in a green outfit, wearing a helmet, white gloves, and boots, holding the car in one hand.

He moved the car and set it down on the ground beside him and walked toward Spoppovitch. "I don't get it... what happened to you?" he wondered softly. "Some sort of transformation... but... that makes little sense."

"And just who are you anyway?!" the large man demanded.

That's when Gohan realized he'd not introduced himself yet. He quickly struck a pose, arms crossed over his chest, legs spread slightly and knees bent. "I am... Saiyaman!" he shifted his pose into a fighting stance as he finished his intro.

"Hmph. Well, in a moment you'll be dead!" he thrust his arm forward and fired a blast of red and black energy.

Gohan deflected it into the sky easily but did nothing else. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle this. If he just knocked the guy out and let the police arrest him he'd escape easily later. Finally he figured Piccolo would know something, he'd just knock him out and take him to the Lookout. Faster than anyone there could see Gohan shot forward and slammed his knee into Spoppovitch's stomach and knocked him out. Bending down he picked the large man up by the collar and took off before anyone there could even think to react.

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The Lookout:

Piccolo had felt it a moment ago. An intense evil flared up somewhere on Earth for a second, and then another one came from elsewhere. The second wave of evil was far weaker but more persistent, and it came with a rising power. A moment later, just as he was about to go check it out, he felt Gohan's power flare up, the other drop, and then Gohan flying toward him with the other in tow. A few moments later Gohan, no longer in his Saiyaman outfit, landed on the Lookout and dropped Spoppovitch down beside him.

"Believe me now?" Piccolo asked walking over. Gohan just sighed. Piccolo reached him and knelt down rolling the large man onto his back. As soon as he did he stood up, eyes wide. "What the hell!?"

"Yeah, that's what Videl said too, when he transformed."

"Wait, you saw him transform into a Reiketsukan?"

"What's a 'Reiketsukan'?" Gohan asked confused.

"Did you see him transform?" Piccolo repeated.

"Yeah, I did. This black bird came charging down and flew into him, and then he changed. His power shot up, he got bigger, balder, a third eye formed, and... Piccolo, what's going on? What happened down there? What's a Reiketsukan?"

"Something from the past." Popo said walking out of the shrine.

Piccolo nodded. "Something that shouldn't be possible... A little over a thousand years ago, the year after Kami took the position as Guardian, a Human Sorceress made a bid to take over the Earth. She used her magic to make herself extremely powerful, stronger than even the greatest warrior of the time. On top of that she had the power to enslave people, transform them in Reiketsukans. If enough evil resided within them she could turn them to her side.

"But Kami helped Olibu, the Earth's defender of the time, by allowing him to spend two years training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Four months after she began her war Olibu killed her. So a Reiketsukan now, more than a thousand years later, shouldn't be possible." He turned to look at Gohan. "So, still think I'm worrying about nothing?"

"Piccolo..." Dende began looking toward the powerful Namek. "Think. When did Kami first feel that nagging feeling that something was wrong?"

The Namek furrowed his brow in thought but it was Popo that answered. "I remember." he said. "It was a couple of days after the celebrations of Tejina's defeat came to an end."

"So, is it possible she managed to survive somehow then?" Gohan asked.

Piccolo shook his head. "No, no chance." the Namek replied. "I... Kami... sensed her die. Yemma even commented about her being sent to hell for ten thousand years. No, she's not alive. She must have done something, before her death. Something that's only now coming to the surface."

Gohan nodded. He certainly didn't like the sound of this. He was just glad he'd been there to help Videl, otherwise she'd be nothing but a bloodstain on the wall now... "Listen, I need to be heading back to school." he said turning around. "I'll keep my eyes open for anything more." Piccolo nodded as Gohan made his way to the edge of the Lookout again. He was about to take off when he suddenly remembered... "Oh yeah, Piccolo." he said looking back again. "Mom and I got word last night. It seems dad's being allowed to come back for a day, the day of the Budokai. He and I are both entering, we thought you might want to as well."

Piccolo smiled a little. "Goku's coming back eh? That must have been why Yemma summoned Baba... Sure, I'll enter. It'll at least be some good training."

Gohan smiled, nodded, and then waved good-bye and took off for Hercule City again.


	6. Search for the Truth

_Chapter Six - Search for the Truth_

Hercule High:

Gohan made it back with seven mintues to go before the end of gym. Which was fine by him, he needed to talk to Yamcha. As he walked over to the other man he noticed Videl coming back at last as well, still looking rather shocked by the events she'd witnessed. He then explained to him about what had happened. Yamcha had the same reaction as him, he didn't like it.

Gohan didn't have the chance to talk to Videl until later, during Astronomy class. "So, how'd things go earlier?" he asked as he took his seat beside her.

"Huh?"

"When you left gym class this morning."

"Oh... that..."

Erasa leaned forward in her seat and turned to look at Gohan. "Videl thinks maybe he was on drugs or something. The news crews got it all on camera, it's very weird."

"The news was there?"

Erasa nodded. "Yep. Caught the whole thing on film. When Spoppovitch started doing that glowy thing the school had us turn on the TVs and we got to watch. It was really freaky. He got so big so quick! And that guy in the helmet... he came from no where and just caught that car!"

Gohan sighed as Mrs. Solaria started class. He'd been thinking about showing Videl some Ki moves during the two weeks before the Budokai but now... well, he wasn't so sure. She was taking the fact that someone could catch a car bad enough. How would she handle the fact Gohan could blow up entire planets? Hell, entire solar systems! Life was complicated.

He turned his attention back to Mrs. Solaria who seemed quite excited about something. "... so I contacted my brother out at the observatory about it and he took a look. I was thinking it was most likely just some sort of comet or meteor that no one else had found yet." she was talking very fast now and it was making her a little hard to understand. "But when my brother looked... well, take a look at this video for yourself."

She turned and clicked on the large dome over them as the lights in the room went down. That was the thing about the Astronomy class. It wasn't a normal room, it was an actual planetarium. A moment later the main lights were out and the dome, basically a large TV, came to life. Most of the students in the room weren't really interested in the video playing on the screen but it caught Gohan's attention instantly. _"Oh man... now what?!"_ he wondered as he stared at what was, unmistakably, a space pod. He raised his hand as he bit his lip.

"Oh, yes Gohan?" Mrs. Solaria asked.

"Um, where... where is this?" he asked.

"Well, when I first found it, it was just passing Mercury. By the time the video here ends it's passing Venus." she explained. "Which means it's moving very quickly. We think it'll be here tonight. My brother and I are going to go check it out. Should come down somewhere in the Mt. Paozu area."

_"Near home then... well, that'll make it easier for me at least."_ Gohan thought.

"So what is it?" Erasa asked, having finally taken notice.

"Well..." the teacher began. "It's metal, and it's not natural."

"So... a space probe?" someone asked.

"Possibly." Mrs. Solaria said nodding. "It's certainly not enough to carry any space travelers, unless they're very tiny anyway. There's no room to move, and hardly any room for any systems."

_"You'd be suprised what those can carry."_ Gohan thought remembering all the instances he'd dealt with Space Pods hurtling toward Earth before. Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta... not exactly the best memories there. _"This day just keeps getting better and better."_ he thought sarcastically.

The rest of Astronomy class went by without anything really interesting happening. They'd just picked up where they'd left off on the previous day's lesson. Gohan had trouble focusing on the class though. He kept thinking about that pod and trying to sense it out. He couldn't find it though. Either it was empty, the power on board was extremely weak, or he just wasn't able to go far enough before Mrs. Solaria's voice broke into his thoughts again.

As he picked up his books at the end of class he was tempted to skip out on the rest of the day to look into that pod but decided against it. As he emerged into the hall he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look. "You ok Gohan?" Videl asked. "You looked a little out of it, and you didn't seem to hear me calling you..."

"Oh, sorry. Just got lost in thought I guess." he said sheepishly.

Videl nodded slowly but didn't seem entirely convinced everything was okay. She pressed on to other matters anyway. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you how things went with your mom." As she talked the two began walking through the hall.

"Hmm?"

"About entering the tournament."

"Oh, yeah... Once she heard about the prize money she decided to let me enter." He smiled a little. "Even my little brother's going to be there."

"Oh? Your brother's going to enter?"

"Yeah, he's a little troublemaker at times, but a pretty good fighter. Once he heard that I was entering, along with dad and a friend of ours, he wanted to enter too. I already know that Krillin and his wife are entering..." Gohan shook his head. "At this rate everyone's going to be entering."

Videl was now seriously interested. "Oh? You have friends that are entering too?"

"Most likely. My dad used to compete years ago with a lot of his friends. Since he's entering again they'll probably enter for old time's sake. And of course, Vegeta's going to want to enter for sure, since it'll be his only chance to finally beat dad. I think Yamcha will probably be the only one not entering, he's pretty much given up fighting."

Videl had a few more questions she wanted to ask but they'd reached an intersection and they had to go different ways. Gohan waved and walked off down the other hall. "Oh, hey, Gohan!" she called after a moment. "You never did tell me your dad's name!"

"Huh? Oh, Goku!" he called back before disappearing into his class.

Videl stood there for a moment frowning. "Goku, Goku, Goku... Where do I know the name Goku?" she wondered. "Wait, he said he'd competed in the Budokais before... But there was no Goku at the last two tournaments. The one before the Cell Games or the one three years ago..." She shook her head and walked off to her next class, deciding she'd look into it there. After all, her journalism class had computers with net access, and she was done with her project already, so she basically had a free period.

A few moments later she was in her next class and seated at a computer. She logged onto the net and brought up a search engine. A quick search of the name 'Goku' didn't really give her anything to go on. So she tried a search for information on past Budokais. That got her a link to a site that listed all the previous Budokais, their participants, some deatils on them, and who won the matches. All the information was listed in descending order so she had to scroll down to get closer to the present.

She stopped scrolling after a moment and glanced at the ones on screen, the 20th and 21st Budokais. She was about to scroll on, not expecting either to have any of the information she wanted, but froze as she saw the name Son Goku. Clicking on it brought up the page that held his information. There were three photos, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Budokais. Over each was his age, and under his placement. 12, 15, 18. Runner-up, Runner-up, Champion.

"Wait... he entered at 12 and got Runner-up? Plus, he's a former champion? Wow." she said softly. "Hmm, wasn't the 23rd tournament..." she paused as she hit back and looked at the other entrants. "Ma Junior... No way! That was the battle that took out the entire staduim and cancelled the Budokai for eleven years while they got the money up to rebuild..."

Videl was now seriously confused. There weren't any videos of those old tournaments, just old eye witness statements. Her neighbour, Kara T. Master, had told her the stories when she was just a kid, she'd been there. She had taken the stories of beams of energy, kids turning into giant apes, and all that as nothing but fantasy. She'd figured a bomb had blown up the ring or something. And then had come the Cell Games, but her dad said that the others had all used light shows and tricks...

She'd accepted that... but then there was the matter with Spoppovitch earlier. And that guy that caught that car. She stared at the photos of Goku for a moment and then opened an image program. She saved the picture of the 18 year old Goku and then went on an image hunt with the Cell Games as her search term. She got lots and lots of images. Some from the movie, others from the actual broadcast all those years ago.

She opened one that looked pretty good and found it was part of a gallery of images. After poking around the gallery for a bit, opening all the decent looking images, she minimized the page and then looked over the images she had. Saving a couple of them she brought the image program up again and opened all three images and began glancing between them. After a moment she went back and poked around the gallery again grabbing a few other images, namely of the blonde guy since he wore the same gi as Goku.

She easily recognized the likes of Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Piccolo from their on-file images at the Budokai website. She had a feeling that if the four of them were involved then there was more than just light shows and tricks involved in the Cell Games. And since the spikey haired blonde was the only other one in orange he had to be Goku... "Crap." she muttered as she gazed at the best image of the man.

He certainly and clearly bore a resemblance to Goku but the hair and eye colors were wrong. "Well, I guess he could have dyed his hair... and maybe color changing contacts?"

"What cha' up to?" a girl asked, her voice slighly higher than most girls.

Videl turned and saw one of her other classmates, Anna Lysa, at the computer behind her but turned around looking at Videl's screen. _"Probably heard me talking to myself."_ she realized. "Trying to see if I can figure out who the people at the Cell Games were."

"Other than your dad?" Anna asked. "Why? Interested in starting a magic show?"

"Just curious." Videl replied looking back at her monitor. "Turns out at least four of them were former Budokai competitors, one's even a former Champion. And the one looks like King Piccolo. This guy here looks sort of like Goku. Don't know about the rest..."

"Goku?" Anna asked sliding over so that she was sitting beside Videl. "Oh, the guy with the lavender hair is kind of cute..."

Videl gave her a glance before speaking. " Goku's another former competitor, and the Champion of the 23rd Budokai." she explained. "But see the hair and eyes?"

Anna nodded. "Scooch over." she said motioning with her hands. Videl shrugged and moved aside letting the blonde use the computer. She quickly began going through the images and overlaying several of them. She then went into a part of the program Videl hadn't even known was there and typed out something she couldn't make sense of. Though, she knew that Anna had a lot of computer knowledge and took numerous computer classes, so she was pretty sure the girl knew what she was doing.

A moment later she closed what she'd written and then launched another program. Videl watched in wonder as Anna opened the image she'd compiled before, ran the script she'd written, and then both watched Goku turn into the blonde haired green eyed man, and then back again. "He doesn't just look like this Goku." Anna said at last. "You don't get _that_ exact a resemblance without at least being twins. I'd say it's probably the same guy, just a disguise..."

Anna shook her head. "Man, that is weird. Why would former Budokai competitors, two of them Champions, resort to using light shows and tricks? Well, I guess my mom was probably right then... the whole Cell Games was just staged and they hadn't expected Hercule to show up..."

Videl didn't say anything as Anna moved back to her own computer. She looked again at the images from the Cell Games and at those present. "Wait a minute!" she cried in shock. Quickly she printed out a few of the images and then went over to the teacher's desk where the teacher, Mrs. R. E. Porter, sat. "Um, Mrs. Porter, can I be excused? I need to speak with my gym teacher."

She glanced up from the papers she was grading. "Oh, sure Videl." she said before scribbling out a note and handing it to her.

"Thanks." Videl said taking the pass. A minute later she was moving through the halls, the images clutched in her hands. Her eyes were glued to them, glancing up only occasionally to make sure she was going the right way and wasn't about to run into someone. Everytime she looked at the images, everytime she thought about her earlier conversation with Gohan, her pace increased. It only took her five minutes to reach the gym, a record time even for her.

As she walked in she saw the students doing laps with Yamcha standing in the middle of the gym. She moved quickly through a gap in the jogging students and over to him. "Oh, Videl." he said in suprise as she reached him. "What is it?"

She waved the pictures as she spoke. "I want answers."

"What? Answers?" he wondered, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You, Krillin, Tien, and the Cell Games." Videl said. "And this blonde guy that looks considerably like the former Budokai Champion Goku, who just happens to be Gohan's father."

"I... er... I..." the man stammered. He looked around for a moment. "Er, class." he called, still a bit shaken. "You can stop your laps. I want you to head outside and split up into two even teams and begin getting a game of baseball going. I'll join you shortly." They all let out a short burst of cheers that their laps were over after only four instead of ten and quickly filed out of the gym.

Once everyone was gone Yamcha turned back to Videl. "Um, now... what was it you were..."

"This." she said shoving the pictures into his hands.

Yamcha glanced down at them and saw images from the Cell Games broadcast, the entrant photos from the Budokais, and one image that looked like normal and SSJ Goku overlayed on each other. He just stared at them and blinked a few times. _"Man, what is it with this girl? She knows Gohan less than two days and she's already figuring everything out. She's either psychic or Gohan's really bad at hiding things. Though, with that gaze of hers..."_ he fidgeted a bit.

"I, um... well... that is... they, er, certainly do look like us." he said.

"Look like you?" she nearly cried as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm not blind, that's clearly you there, that one's Tien, and that's Krillin." she said pointing to one photo with one hand keeping the other on her hip. "And that green guy is Piccolo or Ma Junior or whatever he wants to be called."

Yamcha's brain finally caught up with what was going on and he began to think a bit more clearly. "I don't really know what you're getting at..."

She scowled at him. "You're almost as good as my dad, I witnessed that myself yesterday. And earlier Gohan said you'd stopped really fighting. That was probably after the Cell Games, so you've had 7 years to lose your edge, so you had to be at least as good as dad back then, and you didn't even fight. Not that I saw on TV. Just the blonde guy, and that I couldn't even watch they kept vanishing. What happened at the Cell Games?"

"Well... you know." he said shrugging and looking at the pictures. "Your dad saved the world."

Videl's scowl deepened as she gazed at him. "I want the exact truth."

"That is the exact truth." he replied. _"And hell, in a way, it is."_ And with that, he turned away from her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach." As he walked outside a moment later he sighed to himself. _"Man, she's pushy. Maybe she's Chi-Chi's clone or something... Got to find a way to let Gohan know she's on the war path too. I'll stop by his house tonight. Hopefully she wont catch him before that..."_

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Son Home, 3:12 PM:

Gohan landed softly in the grass outside his house and took in a deep breath of the fresh air around him. He noticed it as soon as he left the bustle of Hercule City yesterday and again today. The city had a vastly different odor about it, one he didn't particularly care for. There was too much sweat, smog, and garbage and not enough flowers and trees. "Mom, Goten, I'm home!" he called as he walked up to the house.

As soon as he pulled the door open Goten burst out and pounced onto him knocking him onto his back in the grass, cheering 'Yay!' as he did. "Finally! I was hoping and hoping and hoping you'd get home quickly today. Mom said I couldn't play outside until you got home. Well, bye Gohan!" he called, and then in a streak of orange he ran off into the woods. Gohan just lay there blinking a moment longer before pulling himself to his feet.

"What was that about?" he asked as he walked inside and saw Chi-Chi laying out a few bowls of fruit for him to snack on while he did his homework.

"I needed a new grounding method to deal with him summoning Shenron like that." Chi-Chi replied. "Denying him food only causes more problems, so I figured I'd keep him inside for a while. So, how'd school go today?"

"Pretty well." he said pulling up a chair and dropping his bag onto the table. He pulled out his Advanced Biology and Astronomy books, the only homework he had, and sighed. "Well, school and classes went fine at least."

"Is something wrong dear?"

"Not sure." he replied finally laying the books down on the table. "Mrs. Solaria seems to have a brother with a really large telescope. And the two of them found... well, there's a space pod heading our way."

Chi-Chi paused in her digging through the fridge. "You mean... one of those things like your father and Vegeta came in?"

Gohan nodded. "She had a video of it, showed it in class. It was definitely a Space Pod. It'll be here tonight, landing in this area... somewhere. I'm going to head out as Saiyaman and check it out."

Chi-Chi didn't move, didn't say a word, for a full minute. "You should have someone else go with you." she said at last. "Just in case."

"Already thought of that. I'll have Piccolo come along, but keep back out of sight, just in case." Chi-Chi finally unfroze and pulled back from the fridge holding a gallon of milk. After pouring herself a glass to go with the sandwich she'd made earlier she sat the jug down on the table for Gohan and then sat down herself and began eating in silence. Neither said anything else as Gohan finished his homework, most of the fruit, and the gallon of milk. Homework finished at last he packed up his bag, grabbed one of the remaining pears, and went outside to find Goten.

His homework had taken a bit longer than expected this time, namely due to him having found an error in his earlier work for his Advanced Biology class and having to re-do the whole thing from the start. In fact, the sun was already begining to set as he stepped outside. "Hmm, maybe I should go find Goten later... that Space Pod could come any time tonight..."

With that in mind he raised his power slowly, in spurts. It was a signal to Piccolo so Gohan could get the Namek's attention. A moment later he stopped and relaxed. As he did he felt a power graze his senses and thought Piccolo was nearing already, but soon realized the power was far too low to be Piccolo. It only took a moment to realize it was Yamcha. "Hmm, wonder what he wants..."


	7. Arrival

_Chapter 7 - Arrival_

Yamcha waved as he neared and a moment later landed beside Gohan. "What's up Yamcha?" Gohan asked.

"I just thought I'd let you know Videl's out for the truth." the man said with a sigh. "She caught me in class and started asking questions about the Cell Games, complete with Budokai photos and broadcast pictures."

Gohan groaned. "Man, she's the persistant type too. But what set her off wondering about all of that?"

"She had a picture of Goku, an overlay of his Budokai photo and him as a Super Sai-jin at the Cell Games." he explained. "She probably recognized his name after you told her, and then recognized one of us from the video and went from there. You're just lucky your looks have changed so much over the last seven years."

"Man... I don't know what to do." Gohan said leaning against a nearby tree. "I don't know how she'd take the truth, and I just met the girl... You know, it's not exactly how I'd like to introduce myself to her after only a couple of days. 'Hello, my name is Gohan. I'm half alien, have enough power to blow up the entire solar system, and I saved the world from Cell but your dad took the credit.' Yeah..."

"You worry too much." a gruff voice came from above.

"Like you're one to talk Piccolo." Yamcha said. "Not that you'd understand girl problems."

Piccolo smirked. "No, I suppose that's your specialty."

"Wha, hey!"

"So, what's up Gohan? I trust you didn't signal me over this girl..."

"Huh? Oh, no. My Astronomy teacher found... well, there's a Space Pod heading for us. It'll land around here somewhere too. I'm going to check it out as Saiyaman since Mrs. Solaria will be there, but I wouldn't mind having you in the shadows keeping an eye on things." Piccolo nodded.

"A Space Pod?" Yamcha asked. "Oh man, like whatever made Spoppovitch go all wacky earlier wasn't bad enough."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Gohan said with a sigh. "I called Mirai earlier too, he should be out here soon actually. The three of us should be enough... Um, Yamcha, could you stay here and keep an eye on mom for me? Just in case things don't go so well."

"Sure man, no problem."

Gohan gave him a wave as Yamcha went into the house. A moment later he floated up into the air with Piccolo. "It's not going to be easy to sense out this teacher of yours." Piccolo said.

"Wont have to." Gohan replied. "When I talked to Mirai earlier he said the same satellite that tracked dad's return ten years ago can be used now too. He's bringing the device with him."

Piccolo gave him a nod and the two moved over to a large rock and sat down on top of it to await Mirai. The lavendar haired time traveler arrived a few moments later in his traditional outfit, complete with the sword Bulma had gotten him a few years back. It appeared to be the same sword he'd brought from his own time and had shattered against the Androids. Entirely possible, but rather confusing to think about at times.

"So, could the satellites find the Space Pod?" Gohan asked as he stood up again.

Mirai nodded. "Yeah, and it's moving beyond fast, though it's slowing. From the data I have it was doing at least ten thousand times the speed of light a little over a day ago when it first showed up on the scanners as it passed by the sun."

"Is that even possible?" Piccolo asked.

Mirai shook his head. "Mom studied Goku's Space Pods, both the one he first came in and the one he came back in ten years ago, and they could only do about a hundred and twenty times the speed of light. To be going so fast... either this one's the most advanced or it had some form of help to gain its speed. When it does come down it'll be doing at least a hundred miles an hour still."

Gohan nodded as he touched his watch and activated his Saiyaman outfit. Holding out a gloved hand to Mirai the time traveller turned over the tracker to Gohan who took a glance down at it and then began to fly off slowly to find where the pod would land. The display had several images on it. One was a pair of circles with a line connecting them, obviously a view of the entire Earth and the course of the pod. The second on the screen, which was changing now and then, showed a close-up version of the first image. The third was a flat downward view with two points, the tracker and the projected landing point of the pod. The fourth and final image was the same, except an actual video feed from one of the satellites.

"Oh, hey..." he zoomed in a bit on a small cliff about twenty miles from where he was and saw a large air boat landing. A moment later Mrs. Solaria emerged along with about a dozen others he didn't recognize. "Yep, that's her, and she brought more than just her brother. Anything to make this more difficult."

"I could just knock them all out when we get there." Piccolo said. "It wouldn't be that hard to put them to sleep for a few hours."

"No, that will only make Mrs. Solaria even more suspicious." Gohan said. "She's paranoid about everything. Best to let them be."

A moment later Mirai and Piccolo dropped down into the trees and Gohan landed on the cliff a few yards behind Mrs. Solaria and her group. "Well, hello there." he said in his deep Saiyaman voice. This caused them all to turn around and stare at him. "I'm not sure you should be here, it could be dangerous."

"And just who are you?" a man in a white lab coat asked with a really sqeaky voice. He reached up and pushed his thick glasses back up his nose before running a hand through his thick and wild red-orange hair.

"I am!" he struck a quick pose. "The Great Saiyaman!"

"You're that guy from TV today!" Mrs. Solaria cried. "The one that caught the car that Spoppovitch threw at Videl. I knew it! Spoppovitch was an alien! Let me guess, you're a space cop or something, right? The bizarre get-up and corny lines are a disguise... you probably don't even realize how bad it is since you don't know the planet too well..." she'd stopped talking to Gohan halfway through and was now talking to herself. "I bet that thing is probably a shipping device and has supplies and stuff in it. Yes, that has to be it..."

"Actually, Mrs. Solaria, you are quite wrong. Spoppovitch is very much Human and I'm no cop. As for the the Space Pod I don't know what is inside it. That is why I'm here."

"Don't worry." A large guy in camo said grinning. He then raised a large black shotgun. "If there's anything dangerous in there I'll just blow it away! Heh heh heh. We don't need any stickman playing hero."

"We'll see about that." Gohan said under his breath while walking up the hill to the edge of the cliff. He gazed down at the tracker and checked how far out the pod was still. _"A good ten or fifteen minutes yet... and it looks like it'll be landing a few hundred yards out from here yet. That's good at least."_

"What are you looking at?" Mrs. Solaria asked walking up beside him. She saw the tracker and the Capsule Corp. logo emblazoned on the back and the top right corner on the front. "Oh, you're tracking it with Capsule Corps. satellites!" she cried happily. "I should have known you were connected to them somehow! Oh! That's how you just showed up and then vanished, and caught that car! You must be using some new top secret Capsule Corp. inventions!"

The man with the squeaky voice walked up on Gohan's other side and gazed at the tracker and Gohan. "Hmm, yes, I've theorized that Capsule Corp. was far more advanced than they appeared from the outside. This device is clearly decades ahead of any other company's technological abilities. And I've heard of their deal with the Earth military for the construction of mechanical exoskeletons to enhance strength and such... and rumors of Nano Machines that could give Super Human abilites, as well as teleportation devices. You're probably field testing the stuff, aren't you?"

"I, er..."

"Yes, yes." he said nodding. "I quite understand. Top Secret company information and such. It's simply astounding what Capsule Corp. is able to do..."

"Mr. Kagakusha!" a voice called from back by the air boat. There was a moment of silence and then it came again. "Excuse me, Mr. Kagakusha!"

"I think you're wanted, brother." Mrs. Solaria said.

"Hmm, oh, oh, yes, yes." he said turning. "Lost myself in thought again." With that he walked off to speak with whoever had called him.

Gohan turned his eyes skyward and looked about for any sign of the approaching Space Pod, and then looked down at the device again. _"Let's see, it's coming from the other side of the world actually. According to the tracker it'll most likely circle the planet twice to help it slow down before actually coming down. Let's see, the west is... behind me."_ He turned and looked behind him.

"So then, it seems my brother was right." Mrs. Solaria said as she looked at Gohan's tracker again. "I thought it odd that it would land on the opposite side of the world it was approaching..."

"Simply dynamics." came a new voice. Gohan glanced and saw a young woman he sort of recognized. It took him a moment to realize it was a student from school, his Advanced Phsyics class... Anna Lysa or something. She walked up from the air boat and looked off the same direction as Gohan. "This thing is moving at incredible speeds, it can't simply fall right into the atmosphere. Without looping the world at least once it would merely bounce off our atmosphere."

She then looked toward Gohan. "And maybe you can put a word in for me at Capsule Corp." she said. "I applied for the Robotics and Co-op work but couldn't get in, apparently it was full before I could apply. But I think my skills would be wasted anywhere else."

"Er, well, I have seen what you can do." Gohan replied, making sure he kept his Saiyaman voice up. He wasn't used to holding conversations with it so it wasn't as easy as he'd expected. "So I'll see what I can do for you."

Anna looked at him a little confused. "How have you seen what I can... oh, you saw my application information and the projects I did. Those aren't actually my best works in my opinion, but all I had to submit. I'm even good with computer re-imaging. Like today at school I compiled a script to shift a three-quarter profile screenshot to align with a frontal photo and aged the frontal photo. Videl was trying compare the similarites between some Goku guy and this blonde guy..."

She stopped as Gohan interupted her. "What was she looking for?"

"Don't know. Something to do with the Cell Games." she said shrugging.

Gohan mentally sighed. Videl certainly was resourceful. Suddenly he saw a spark just over the horizon. A glance at his tracker verified what he'd thought. "Here it comes for the first pass." Kagakusha's squeaky voice proclaimed as the fiery haired man approached again. A second later a streak of blue and white light zipped passed over head and into the distance again. There was silence in the group as all waited for the pod to return.

Gohan watched the tracker in his hand as it followed the pod around the world as it descended. The projected course began to slowly drift closer and closer to the cliff. After a moment it stopped, not over five hundred yards away as originally marked, but only a hundred and fifty. Considering the height of the cliff... "Everyone, get down!" he cried dropping to the ground. The others looked at him for a moment but then did as he said and dropped. A moment later the pod zipped passed over their heads only feet above them, it came within inches of hitting the edge of the cliff but missed and continued down to the forest below.

Gohan was already on his feet and flying down after it by the time the others managed to get back onto their feet, quite shakily at that. There was a loud thunder like roar as the pod slammed into the ground. The area shook savagely from the impact as a cloud of dust and shattered trees was thrown into the sky. Gohan pulled to a stop at the edge of the cloud and floated there as it settled. He used a quick and weak burst of Ki to clear the dust away so he could see.

Unlike the previous pod landings he'd seen this one hadn't smashed out a crater. It had smashed out a trench at least a hundred yards long. He floated down toward the ground and the pod. As he neared he realized that more than just the terrain was damaged. The Space Pod barely even looked like a Space Pod now. It was scourched black, there were cracks everywhere snaking across its surface, and it was radiating an intense heat. Obviously it hadn't been constructed to deal with such a vicious landing.

As he touched down at the edge of the trench he saw that several of the trees in the area were still smoldering from the friction and that the ground had been scorched so badly that the layer of sand a couple feet under the surface of the ground had been turned to glass. He walked slowly toward the pod. He could feel a low power from within, maybe a little stronger than Roshi. As he reached the pod there was a groan from inside, followed by a grunt, a gasp of pain, and then a flash of blue as a ki field blew the pod, or at least what was left of it, apart.

Gohan turned for a moment to shield himself from the debris and then looked back. He could hear some low moaning punctuated with gasps of pain now and then as the new dust cloud from the blast began to settle. Thanks to the moonlight he could just make out a shadow moving within that cloud. The person who had been inside the pod was on their knees at the moment holding their side.

The dust began to fall and he was able to make out the top of a head covered in black hair, the person's face was turned toward the ground. A moment later the dust was below their shoulders and he saw a sight that was quite familiar yet different as well. The person wore a grey body suit with white gloves, boots, and battle armor. The armor looked as though it had been of the type Gohan had worn on Namek, only the colors were different. The shoulders and abdomen area were dark purple, the chest plate was black, and the trim around the edges red.

But that had been in another life. Now the armor was cracked and shattered, barely hanging together. The body suit was in shreds as well, more hanging off the owner's body than not. Blood was caked on the armor and soaked into the body suit. Gohan went to speak when suddenly the person coughed up blood and then collapsed to the ground. He moved over to them quickly, Mirai and Piccolo emerging from the forest to join him.

"Man, he's in bad shape." Gohan said stopping and bending down to check for a pulse, even though he could still sense a fading energy from them. A rapidly fading energy.

"I think you mean 'she'." Piccolo said. From where he stood he had a pretty good view of her face, and she was obviously female.

"Well, either way..." Gohan said moving to lift her. "She's dying just laying here. We need to..." 

"Wait, Gohan." Mirai said. "She's too injured to move, you could make things worse. I'm the fastest, I'll fly off to the Lookout and get Dende and then come right back."

"Alright, be quick." Gohan said. Mirai nodded and lifted into the air. There was a flash of gold as he transformed, and then he blasted off toward the Lookout at top speed. Gohan sat down on the ground near her and the rubble of the pod and waited, trying to figure what was going on. "Mirai said the pod was going about ten thousand times the speed of light... How is that possible?"

Piccolo shrugged. "I don't know physics so I wouldn't know."

"That's not the problem." Gohan said looking up. "At the speed of light time comes to a near standstill for the person within the ship. At one hundred times the speed of light, theoretically, time should freeze completely within the ship. At one thousand times the speed of light, theoretically, you should overcome the friction of time itself and be moving at twice the speed of time, in other words, going backward in time. Theory says that anything over five thousand times the speed of light should rip itself apart as it presses against the fabric of space and begins to tear out of the universe..."

"So, what does that mean exactly?" Piccolo asked.

Gohan shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure... I do know this, we need to gather up what's left of her pod and take it to Bulma." he said taking a capsule out of his clothes.

"I'll handle that. You stay here." Piccolo said as he took the capsule. A moment later he'd gathered all the debris together, capsulated it, and taken off.

Gohan sighed and looked toward the sky. First the stuff earlier today and now this. Life was certainly becoming interesting again. He looked off to his right as he felt Mirai nearing again. A moment later the time traveler had landed and powered down as he set Dende down as well. The small Guardian moved over to the fallen girl and held his hands over her. A second later the golden energy began to flow from his hands and into her body.

Mirai moved around to where Gohan was, and where he could get a better look at the girl. "She can't be more than twenty years old, if that." he said kneeling down. "Do you think her injuries came from the crash?"

Gohan shook his head. "No. That's battle damage. Serious battle damage. She was in a really bad fight. The crash certainly didn't help any though."

A second later the golden energy flow stopped and Dende stepped back. "She's healed." he said. "But she'll probably still be out for a while yet. I healed her body but I can't restore her energy. She's probably exhausted."

Gohan nodded. "We should take her somewhere to rest up... My place is closest, and knowing mom she'd get better care there than at a hospital." He bent down and gently lifted her up. "I'll head home and get her into a bed."

"Ok. I'll fly Dende back to the Lookout and then go help mom with the pod parts." Mirai said picking up the Namek again and lifting into the air. "I'll talk to you later Gohan."

"Yeah, call me if you find anything or need some help."

"Will do."


	8. Meeting on the Lookout

_Chapter Eight - Meeting on the Lookout_

"Mom!" Gohan called as he touched down outside his house once more.

A second later Chi-Chi and Yamcha came out of the house quickly, a worried expression on the woman's face. It faded as soon as she saw Gohan was alright, but then returned when she saw the girl in the shredded clothes in his arms. "Oh, what happened to her?" she asked hurrying over.

"Not sure. She was in the pod that crashed." he said "Dende's healed up her physical injuries but she's still drained. I thought..."

"Yes, of course, bring her in Gohan." Chi-Chi said turning and leading the way back into the house. She led Gohan back to her room and had him lay the girl down on her bed. She then pulled the covers up over the girl who instantly pulled them closer and then rolled onto her side mumbling. "Poor thing looks like she's been through hell."

Gohan nodded and sighed. "Mirai and Bulma are working on where she came from." he said. "Other than that there isn't much we can do right now. I just hope this isn't the start of more problems, not with this Reiketsukan stuff starting too."

"Well, come on, let's let her rest." Chi-Chi said pushing Gohan from the room.

As he emerged into the hall again he saw Yamcha still standing there. "So she just came down and passed out then?" he asked.

Gohan nodded. "It's a good thing I was out there. Without help she'd not have survived... I just wish I knew who she was and what was going on. Anyway, I think I'm going to get some sleep, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Actually." Chi-Chi said walking into the room. "I think you taking one day off wouldn't hurt and I'll probably need the help." Chi-Chi said.

"You sure?" Gohan asked. His mom nodded. "Ok."

"Well, see you later." Yamcha said waving and leaving.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Wednesday, April 7th. Son Home.

"So who do you think she is?" Goten asked as his brother sat up in bed rubbing his eyes.

"Huh? Goten? What time is it?"

"It's seven. So, who do you think she is?" he pressed again. "I was in my room but I saw you bring her in and I looked in mom's room and saw her too. So, who do you think she is?"

Gohan stretched, yawned, and rubbed his eyes before answering. "I don't know Goten. I really don't have a clue."

"Do you think she's an alien?"

Gohan laughed. "I don't know, she could be. But so are you, you know."

Goten rolled his eyes. "It's not the same thing!"

"Sure, whatever you say." He threw the covers off and climbed to his feet. As he got dressed Goten took off into the halls and straight for the kitchen. A few mintues later Gohan joined him to find breakfast waiting, though not nearly as much as normal. Gohan figured his mom hadn't gotten a lot of sleep and probably spent most of the night and morning keeping an eye on the mystery girl. "How's she doing?" he asked taking a seat and grabbing some of the food.

"She seems to be okay. Keeps mumbling stuff in her sleep though." Chi-Chi replied with a sigh. "She seems to be having nightmares."

The rest of breakfast passed by in silence and after a bit Goten finished and then took off to play outside. Gohan picked at his food slower than usual and had only eaten about half as much as usual when he suddenly felt a wildly fluctuating power inside the house. "What the..." he breathed looking back toward his mother's room. That's where the power was coming from and it was jumping back and forth between about the level of Roshi and the level of Goten.

He put down the last bite of his pancake and moved back toward her room, Chi-Chi right behind him. Reaching the door he pushed it open a little and looked inside. The girl was tossing and turning in the bed mumbling something. Chi-Chi opened the door all the way and pushed passed him moving over closer to the bed. "Oh, poor thing must be having a really ba..."

She was cut off by a scream and then the girl sat up straight breathing heavily and soaked in sweat. Her power jumped up to about Goten's level and held steady there for a second before dropping back down again. The girl's wide eyes slowly returned to normal as she relaxed some. "How are you feeling?" Gohan asked walking up beside his mom. As soon as he spoke her power leapt back up again. "It's ok, you're safe here."

She looked up at him first and then around at the room evidently confused. "You crashed last night." Gohan explained. "Your Space Pod came in really fast and was totally destroyed, you were almost killed..."

"So I managed to get away after all..." she said softly. Looking down she found what was left of her body suit completely shredded but no signs of her injuries. "What the..."

"You were in really bad shape so we had Dende heal you." Gohan said. "So you're back in perfect condition."

She blinked a few times and then looked up at Gohan and Chi-Chi again. "I... Thank-you. For helping me. But... you shouldn't have. It'll only cause you more trouble later."

Gohan raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, we're kind of used to trouble around here."

She nodded slowly as if that made perfect sense and turned her head. Her eyes widened instantly as she saw the trees and wildlife outside the window. "Where... where am I?" she asked, obviously shocked about something.

"Umm, this is Earth."

"EARTH!?" she cried, turning to look back at the other two in the room again. "But... but that's not... it can't be! Earth... Earth was..."

"Was what?" Gohan asked confused.

"It was destroyed..." she said softly. "I barely managed to get away..."

"Oh, poor thing must be all mixed up." Chi-Chi said. "I'll go and get her some breakfast."

"My name is Gohan, by the way. So, what's yours?" Gohan asked as his mother left.

"Huh? Oh... I... I'm Tamanegi but most people just call me Tama." She leaned closer to the window to get a better look around. "This is... really Earth?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, it is."

He turned and looked as his mom came back in with a tray carrying a plate of pancakes and a glass of juice. "Here you are, eat up." Chi-Chi said handing the tray over.

"Oh... tha-thank-you." Tama said taking it. She looked down at the food for a moment, her mind still running through everything and trying to figure it out. "I still... don't get it." she said at last. "This can't be... can't be Earth. It's... it was... and I should be in the Fringes..."

"Once you finish eating we can figure this out." Gohan said. "And maybe Mir..." he stopped as he heard the phone ringing and went into the living room to answer it. "Hello?"

"Oh, hey Gohan. It's Bulma."

"Hey, what'd you find?"

"This pod, or what's left if it, is amazing! I've never seen anything quite like it before. It's... it's simply incredible!"

"What's so amazing about it?"

"Well, for starters, I haven't got a clue what it's made from. I've never seen a material like this. It weighs almost nothing but it's about a million times stronger than anything I've invented. Then the computer systems are really advanced from what I can tell. There's not enough left of them to really get a feeling for those though. And the engine is... well, it's complicated to the point I can't figure it out. This is at least 500 years beyond anything I've made."

"Any ideas where she came from?"

"Not a clue. Is she awake yet?"

"Just woke up a little bit ago. She's either really confused or something weird is going on."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, when I told her she was on Earth she said it had been destroyed... I don't know, she could just be really mixed up..."

"Or, knowing us, it's something more." There was a moment of near silence as Bulma talked to someone else. "Ok, Gohan, Mirai says he's heading up to the Lookout and wants you to bring the girl. Apparently Piccolo and Dende want to talk to her."

"Alright."

By the time Gohan got back to his mom's room, Tama was halfway through her food and eating it pretty quickly. "Who was it dear?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Bulma." he replied. "The remains of that pod have her totally lost. It's too advanced even for her. She did say that Piccolo and Dende want to meet her." At this Tama looked up from her now empty plate at this, a slightly worried look on her face. "Oh, it's okay. They're not dangerous if you're not." Gohan said to her. "But they may be able to help us figure out what's going on."

"O-ok." she said nodding and then making to get out of bed.

"Hold on." Chi-Chi said. "You can't go anywhere in that, it's falling apart. I should have something around here that'll fit you. You, out." she said turning to Gohan. He nodded and left as Tama looked from her torn outfit to the cracked and shattered armor.

Gohan made his way through the house and outside into the sunlight. Turning his head skyward he let the morning warmth wash over him. With the birds chirping and the butterflies fluttering about everything seemed peaceful enough. His mind wandered back to the previous night and he was a little curious as to what Mrs. Solaria had made of the events. And then he remembered what Yamcha had told him the night before about Videl. Life was certainly more complicated these days.

"G-Gohan?" Tama's voice sounded nervously from behind him.

He turned and found her standing in the doorway to his house wearing an outfit he'd forgotten his mother had. It was the blue one with red trim she'd shown him a few years ago, the one she'd worn to the 23rd Budokai. "So, you ready to go then?" he asked her. She nodded. "Umm... well, you're certainly strong enough... can you fly?"

"Huh? Well, yes."

"Ok, follow me then." Gohan said lifting gently into the air and flying toward the Lookout at a fairly decent pace. He kept the pace slow since Tama was busy watching everything passing by underneath.

"This... can't be Earth." she said in disbelief. "Even... even ignoring what happened... this can't be... it's so green... so alive."

"Huh?"

Tama looked over to the young man with her and shook her head. "The Earth I know was a barren wasteland. Nothing but rock, dust, sand, and military compounds."

Gohan turned his gaze forward again as his mind worked over that and what Bulma told him. "Well... I suppose it's possible you came from the future..." he said at last. "Bulma did say the technology of your pod was at least five hundred years beyond what she could do."

"The... future? That's possible?"

"Well... considering how fast you were going. I suppose it is." Gohan replied. "I mean, time travel itself is certainly possible, a friend of mine who's here visiting at the moment is from the future."

She nodded slowly as she continued looking at the planet. It was a lot to take in... the possibility of time-travel, the possibility that she was in the past. Way in the past. _"Wait... If... if I'm in the past then... then I could change things... I may have already changed them."_ She looked over to Gohan again. "Ummm... if this... is the past. Then... what about..."

"Your time?" Gohan asked. "Well, it's still there and just the same as it was before you left. You can't actually change the past, just create an alternate and different future."

"Oh." she sighed. There went that idea. "So... where are we going?"

"The Lookout. It's not much further. See that?" he nodded ahead and she looked up. In the distance she saw a tall thin tower reaching up high into the sky. "That's Korin Tower. The Lookout is floating up above it. We should probably start up now." He turned up into an incline and Tama followed suit. They made the rest of the trip in silence and then a moment later they landed gently on the edge of the Lookout.

"This place is... beautiful." she said looking around in awe.

"Piccolo! Dende! Mirai! We're here!" Gohan called. A moment later the three of them emerged from the shadows of the palace portion of the Lookout.

As Tama's gaze fell on them she gasped. "Nameks?" she asked suprised. "Wow... this must... really be the past."

"Guys, this is Tamanegi." he said.

"O-oh, Tama, please." she said, still rather nervous and confused.

"Hello Tama." Dende said bowing slightly. "My name is Dende and I am Guardian of this world. This is Piccolo and Mirai." he motioned to each of them in turn. "Mirai here has informed us of what he and his mother found but this is still puzzling."

"Yeah... tell me about it." Tama said glancing back down at the planet far below her.

"Do you remember anything?" Piccolo asked.

Tama nodded. "Everything. That's what doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe if you told us how you got here..." Mirai said.

"I'm not sure if that'll help but... it's a start I guess."


	9. Tamanegi's Tale

A/N: I know it may seem like kind of much, throwing in Tama and her matters here. But she _is_ relevant, in her own way, to events in this story.

_Chapter Nine - Tamanegi's Tale_

"Where to start..." Tama began looking up at the sky. "I guess... why I was on Earth would be a start." she said at last. "I am... was... whatever, a member of the Resistance. We'd gotten word that the Empire had been developing something called the Blood Moon. It was supposed to be some kind of super weapon or something. Anyway, Jagaimo and I decided to investigate the lab where it was being developed on Earth."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"Tama, I want you to stay back." Jagaimo said. He was a large man, nearly seven foot tall, with wild red hair and piercing black eyes. The pale moonlight glinted off his white and blue trimmed armor with the brown abdomen guard and shoulder straps. His blue body suit looked almost black in the faint light. "If the reports are accurate, and the Trio really is here, it's too dangerous for you."

Tama was crouched down beside the shuttle the two of them had just arrived in adjusting her boots. Like the large Jagaimo she wore a blue body suit with white and blue armor and brown shoulder straps. Her head snapped up, her long black hair falling down over her shoulders. "I'm not staying behind. I'm not a child anymore, and I'm not a weakling either."

"You're still no match for Nasu, let alone Kybabetsu or Kabocha." Jagaimo said sternly. "You may be the fifth strongest of us but you can't fight them. You wouldn't last." Seeing the look in her eyes he rested a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I know how you feel. Corna and Zuka were friends of mine, too. I understand wanting to pay them back for that but you have to understand they wouldn't want you throwing away your life like that. And... I don't want to lose one of the few friends I have left."

"Jagaimo... be careful, ok?"

"You know me."

"That's why I'm worried."

The large man grinned and then hurried off into the darkness. They'd managed to land undetected in one of the unused areas of the lab. Some sections had fallen into disuse due to one problem or another. The Empire never put enough funding into anything to maintain it at full capacity. In this case the lack of funding to maintain a landing port and a containment area had shut down a few square miles of the compound years ago. It made the perfect entry point for them though. Empty even of security.

"The 'Emperor' is getting too arrogant for his own good." Tama said softly. She was about to settle down when she heard a sound from above her and looked up activating the green scouter on her face. It picked up three powers instantly but they wouldn't be any threat to her, the highest one was only five hundred. "Ants." she muttered listening in to what was going on. This part was supposed to be abandoned.

"Are you sure this is where they said to meet them?" a female voice asked.

"Yes, I'm sure!" a guy hissed back. "Look, I told you, you didn't have to come along."

"And let you do this by yourself? Do I look stupid to you, Onyx?" the girl asked.

"Jade's got a point." another girl said. "This is too delicate to leave to you."

"Quiet Ruby." Onyx growled. "I can handle this just fine on my own. Pyrite wouldn't have given it to me otherwise."

"Pyrite's a fool." Jade said. "So, who are we supposed to be meeting and how exactly are we supposed to pull this off?"

"_We're_ not supposed to meet anyone." Onyx said hotly. "I'm supposed to be meeting a guy named Vent. He's got the access codes to the lab self-destruct."

"Shit. I can't believe we're doing this." Ruby said starting to pace. "What if someone finds out it was us?"

"No one asked you to come." Onyx growled again. "Anyway, no one will find out. We'll have exactly thirty minutes to get to our escape pods just like everyone else. Well, you will."

"Us? What about you?" asked Jade.

"I'm supposed to take that prototype pod in the Second A Level labs. I don't know what's so special about it but Vent said it's important."

"Do you go blabbing about top secret matters to everyone?" a smooth and slightly condescending voice asked. Tama blinked as she heard the man walk across the floor above her but her scouter wasn't picking up anyone else. She didn't know of anyone that could supress their power completely to nothing...

"Oh, Mr. Vent." Onyx said turning. "Um, no sir... but these two are with me anyway so..."

"Very well. Here. These are the codes for the self-destruct. You'll only have a period of 50 seconds to input the code. If you take longer than that it'll be rejected."

"But... it's 150 characters long!" Jade cried looking at it.

"I know. You're forgetting, it's normally entered by the lab Drones. They can type much faster than a person. You'll just have to be quick." With that the four of them split up leaving Tama down where she was alone.

"Oh man... they're going to blow up the lab?" she whispered in shock. "I've got to go find Jagaimo and warn him." She climbed to her feet and hurried off down the hall. "I wonder who that Vent guy is and who he works for though... they're obviously working against the Empire but they're not part of the resistance... Jagaimo and I are the only ones here and we've never managed to get an operative into a position here either..."

As she was about to round a corner she spied a partly opened door across the hall. Obviously an old storage area for spare armors and such. She could make out scouters, body suits, and armors lining the walls. With a grin she moved across the hall and into the room closing the door behind her. A few moments later she emerged into the hall again in new clothes. She still had on white boots and gloves but now she wore a grey body suit with a red trimmed black armor. The shoulders and stomach area were purple. Her green scouter had also been replaced with a red one to complete the look.

"Perfect. Now I look like a high level officer. All that's left..." she relaxed and let her power rise slowly. She didn't push it to her max, that would be far too much, but she leveled it off at a fairly high level that she figured should match with her new outfit. "There we go. Now to find Jagaimo..." reaching up she activated the scouter. She'd already loaded Jagaimo's tracking signal into it from her own scouter so it only took a moment to find him.

Despite her disguise she still made sure to try and avoid heavily populated areas but she still couldn't help but smile to herself every time she passed by some low level soldier that watched her nervously as she passed. Finally she came to a stop. Jagaimo had already managed to get passed the Second A Level lab security. Tama knew that even her disguise wouldn't get her passed the guards, they'd want to see her Security Clearance Badge. She didn't have one of those. "So... how'd Jagaimo get through...?" she wondered.

She turned and looked back as she heard a loud conversation coming from behind her. A second later five people in lab coats rounded the corner. Three guys with blue skin and white hair, one with red skin and white hair, and a girl with orange skin and green hair. As soon as the girl saw her, the worried expression on her face changed to one of relief. "Thank the Kais." she sighed running over to a very startled Tama. "I'm Proto." she said with a small bow. "I thank-you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help us out down here."

"Help with what?"

Proto blinked. "Didn't Shidra send you to help us?"

"I wasn't told what was going on." Tama said, hoping they would believe her and that this would lead her passed the entry to the labs without the need of a card. As she spoke she also racked her brain for what she knew of how the higher ups acted. She'd need to play the part perfectly or she'd be discovered.

Proto nodded. "Ah, ok. Well, it's simple really. You see, one of our mutant specimens is loose. It's not overly powerful for someone of your level. We just need you to subdue the thing for us."

"A mutant?" she asked scrunching up her face. She'd heard of them, variations in the normal genetic structure of various alien races. Some were actually hybrids but others were actual mutations. Some were the results of cosmic radiation due to pregnant mothers traveling in space, others were due to planetary over-radiation and pollution, others were nature's natural progression, and some were entirely unexplained. She didn't really like the idea of anything being experimented on, even if the only mutant she'd ever met had totally grossed her out.

Fortunately for Tama, the memory of that mutant resulted in a disgusted look on her face, one that apparently Proto had anticipated. "I know you don't care for them, but we really need this one alive. It's a promising experiment."

"Fine, fine." Tama said shaking her head. She reached her hand down to where she knew personnel normally carried their clearance cards. "Damn, the clasp must have broken again." she nearly growled, hoping she wasn't laying it on too thick.

"Your security card is missing?" Proto asked.

"Third time this month the locking clasp has come lose or busted off... now I have to track the damn thing down again... someone is going to hear about this. I'll be back to help you later if I have the time." Tama made to leave but Proto's voice stopped her.

"It would be no trouble to get you passed the security post." she said, quite hasitly at that. "We really need this mutant dealt with sooner rather than later. It's got enough power to break free of the Containment Sector. If it gets loose the entire facility could be comprimised... it would be a major problem. The only thing good about it is I wouldn't be around to take the fall..."

Tama recognized instantly what the woman was implying and couldn't help but smirk. For a scientist she had guts. "But me, being a high level officer, one this thing couldn't even scratch, would be. And since I have the opportunity to do something about it now passing on such a chance and allowing the destruction of this facility..."

Proto saw Tama's smirk and bowed her head instantly. "Forgive me. I merely wished to impress upon you the urgency of the matter."

"I don't intend to be killed for one of your foul-ups." Tama said turning, clasping her hands behind her back in a stance she'd often seen her mentor use. One that always seemed to exude control and power. It obviously had the same effect for her on these five scientists as they each pulled back a step without even realizing it. "I also don't intend to get in any kind of trouble over your problems... though I find it... interesting, that you can get me in without my card."

Proto fidgeted. "I... umm..." she turned her eyes down to the floor suddenly realizing the situation she'd put herself in. Well, more than herself. "I don't want him to get into trouble ma'am..."

"Him, is it?" Tama asked smiling again, once more understanding. She couldn't believe her luck! This just might work after all. "Aren't relationships between civilian and military personnel forbidden?"

"I..." Proto stiffened up.

"Nevermind that for now. Let's just get this over with. I want to get out of here."

"Ye-yes ma'am." Proto said nodding quickly and then the five of them hurried off with Tama following. A moment later they reached the guard post and Tama noticed the one guard, a pure white skinned and very short guy with a bald head and a beak for a mouth, smiled as soon as he saw Proto. The scientist jerked her head back ever so slightly and the guard, in light blue and pink armor marking him as a Fifth Class, instantly went stiff and robotic.

"Welcome back Proto, Alphia, Medo, Beeta, Verion." he said nodding to each of them. "Ma'am." he said nodding toward Tama. "I... I need to see your card, procedure you know."

"Her clasp broke." Proto said. "Her card is laying around in the halls somewhere."

"Ah... well that, that can be a problem... I can't... can't let you through without it I'm afraid."

"Eagle, can't you make an exception?" Proto asked. "We really need her aid down in the labs... Neanderthan's loose you know."

"Yeah, I heard about that... Still..." He stood there in thought for a moment and then nodded. "I know. I'll need to take your name down, ma'am. When my shift ends in three hours I'll report the situation to the commander and he'll most likely wish to speak with you about the matter."

"Don't waste the time." Tama said waving. "I'll speak with him as soon as I leave, it's on the way to where I need to be anyway."

"Ah, working in the Prison District then? Well, you shouldn't have any problems dealing with Neanderthan then. Still, I'll need your name."

Tama paused for a second. Lie or not? That was the question. It only took a moment for her to realize she'd not be able to come up with a fake name on the spot and that since she was new to field work no one would recognize her name anyway. Well, not beyond it's implications at least. "Tamanegi." she replied simply.

All five scientists and the three guards stiffened and froze for a second. Despite her appearance none of them had assumed her to be a Sai-jin. The lack of the furry brown 'belt' around her waist had instantly dismissed the idea from their minds. "And I know I have no tail." she added with a little edge.

Eagle swallowed and pushed the lock release button. "Go... go right ahead through." he stammered. That was one thing that made life easier now and then. There was a general fear of Sai-jin's in the universe but those Sai-jin's that lacked tails and still fought were feared far more. They were rare, at least in the ranks of the Empire, but they were feared beyond almost all else. A Sai-jin without a tail was often more violent and much quicker to kill than one with a tail. At least, of those that clung to their warrior nature. The rest just seemingly faded away into the darkness never to be heard of again.

Tama watched as each of the scientists passed through the doorway, the scanner in the frame instantly reading their powers as they passed. 8, 12, 3, 7, and 9. Not a very impressive collection. But then, they were only civilians, not warriors. Tama made sure her power was stable and at a good level and then passed through as well. There was a whine and hiss from the machine as it crunched through her power and then displayed it on the small screen. 1,336,971. The reading drew gasps from all those present and a mumbled 'I thought officers of that level were stronger' from one of the guards.

Tama turned her head and locked her eyes on the guard who began to shake realizing his comment had been heard. Being able to raise or lower a power level wasn't an ability that was rampant or well known within the Empire. Using that line would only draw attention to herself. And so she tried the only thing she could think of. "You try working for fifty hours straight and see how well you're still functioning." she practically snapped.

"S-sorry ma'am." he stammered.

With a smile at her acting skills that they took as a smile at how afraid he was, she followed the five scientists down the halls. She'd need to deal with this 'Neanderthan' first, before she could do anything else. Just ditching the five scientists would probably raise alarms in a matter of moments and she didn't want to hurt them. Her scouter still had a lock on Jagaimo's tracker as she adjusted the power scanners to try and find this Neanderthan. However, with the number of wildly different powers in the area it was impossible to pinpoint which one it was she was heading for.

A few minutes later they came to a stop outside a set of large double doors made of Tyrinon, one of the strongest metals in the universe. "Neanderthan's beyond here." Proto said moving over to the control panel. "He's had free roam of the entire section since he broke free this morning. By now he's probably the only one left alive."

Tama checked her scouter again and found only one power beyond the doors. 352,316. "So, that's it then?" she asked.

"Yes. He shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Anything I should be aware of?"

"If you mean poisons and such, no. He's all brute force. Though... now that you metnion it, I almost forgot he can regenerate. It'll be a little tricky but if you can hit him hard enough you'll knock him out without killing him. It'll take more force than for an average person though."

"Right, right." Tama said as the doors opened. "And to get back out?" she asked.

"Well, we'll be here but you may be elsewhere in the area. Once he's restrained just find an exit and blast the doors open. We can fix them later, I'm sure the rest of the place is already in worse shape."

"Right." And with that she stepped into the hall and the door closed behind her. As she went to move down the hall, Jagaimo's tracker signal crossed back onto the screen moving toward Neanderthan. "What the? Damn, I should have copied the layout schematics off of my other scouter... wait, this one probably has network access..." With a few button presses she had the schematics of the area up on the scouter's holo-overlay. "Jagaimo's moving through his area a level down and Neanderthan's a level up... Jagaimo must have noticed how empty the area was and decided to cut through here. He'll need to head up to get to the lab where the Blood Moon project is, though..."

Tama smiled. "I can catch up to him no problem." Still smiling she took off at a run through the halls and around the corners. As she rounded another one she saw a set of elevators at the end of the hall and made for those. The doors were already open to the empty shaft. It looked like they'd been knocked in. Reaching the shaft Tama shot up to the next level and blasted open the doors there. "He's... one hundred feet that way..." Tama said, turning.

As she did, the wall exploded outward and a large... thing... emerged into the hall. It was about ten feet tall despite the fact it was hunched over walking like an ape. Its eyebrows hung out over its eyes and it was almost completely covered in hair. Only the bottom of its feet, the palms of its hands, its chest, and its face were hair free. "What the hell is that!?" she cried wide eyed. "That has to be Neanderthan... but what is it a mutation of?" she wondered.

Her cry caught the mutant's attention and it turned toward her. Its eyes narrowed and it growled. Suddenly its mouth opened and a blast of red energy surged toward her. Tama ducked at the last second and the blast shot down the hall and slammed into the far wall. As she stood up, she pushed off with her feet and surged toward it faster than the thing could see. There was a crack as she smashed her knee into its face and it fell over backwards and stopped moving. She could sense it was still alive but it was obviously unconcious.

"There, now that that's done off to find Jagai..."

"Tama!?"

She turned and saw Jagaimo emerge from the same elevator shaft she'd just come from. "There you are. Look, we have to go, now." she said turning and walking toward him. "I overheard some people on the floor above our ship. They're going to activate the base self-destruct."

"What? Who are they? And what's that thing behind you?"

"They're someone named Mr. Vent and Jade, Ruby, and Onyx and they mentioned someone named Pyrite." Tama said counting on her fingers making sure she got everyone. "And that thing would be Neanderthan, a mutant, and the reason this place is so empty and battered. Really, Jagaimo, you need to do better recon." she said grinning.

"Yeah, yeah, I stay back in the shadows. Out of sight, out of mind." he said. "You obviously took the 'hide in plain sight' approach?"

"Like?" she asked spinning, modeling her new look. "We'll need to get to the lab with the Blood Moon stuff fast. Once the self-destruct is armed we'll only have 30 minutes to get away. That's plenty of time for them to evacuate the thing so we'll still need to nab it or destroy it."

"Right." Jagaimo said with a nod. "It's only five floors up. I only stopped here to see who was still left." Tama nodded as well and the two of them moved back to the shaft and shot up five floors. The doors there were already opened and they landed into the hall. Just as their feet touched down the lights in the room went red and a siren started blaring.

"Attention all personnel. The self-destruct has been activated." a mechanical female voice chimed. "It is recommended that you evacuate now. This facility will be destroyed in 29 minutes and 44 seconds. Attention all personnel. The self-destruct has been..."

"Looks like time's up." Jagaimo said. "Time to cut the sneaky crap and put on the pressure!"


	10. Escape

_Chapter Ten - Escape_

Tama nodded and the two of them blasted down the hall at full speed, all pretense of supressing their powers and hiding their presence gone. As the red light glared over everything, the siren wailed, and the calm mechanical voice sounded, the noise of fleeing personnel came to them as well. Jagaimo thrust an arm foward and the wall ahead of them blasted open. A second later they were through the opening and pulling to a stop up on a high catwalk. Below them was a large hanger lab combination with scientists running about in a panic.

And there, sitting in the middle of the room, was what could have only been their target. The Blood Moon Project. It was a large red sphere just floating in the air slowly bobbing up and down. "That has to be it..." Tama said gazing down at it. "But what the hell is it?"

"I don't know. Let's just destr..." he stopped as his eyes widened in fear and he turned to look toward the main entrance of the lab. A second later the doors opened and three unmistakable figures entered the room. The first was a short man no more than four and a half foot tall. His muscles seemed a size too big for his body. He wore a pair of blood red gloves and boots, a purple body suit, and golden armor with silver shoulder pads and abdomen section. His black hair was wildly spikey sticking up and out six to ten inches at random angles almost as if he'd stuck his finger in a light socket, and his was tail wrapped securely around his waist. He was Nasu, the weakest member of the Trio.

Next came another man, this one just over six foot tall. His muscles were thick but on scale to Nasu's they were smaller. He had on black gloves and boots, a dark red body suit, and orange armor with white shoulder pads and abdomen section. His own black hair was much shorter than that of Nasu sticking straight up only a few inches above his head. His tail, too, was locked around his waist. The second strongest member of the Trio, Kybabetsu.

Lastly came a female about five foot two inches tall and of a general build. She wore white boots and gloves, a blue body suit, and white armor with brown shoulder straps and abdomen section. Her hair hung halfway down her back but was still as wild as Nasu's. Unlike the other two her tail wagged around leisurely behind her showing that she was quite relaxed. Tama growled. "Kabocha."

"Easy girl." Jagaimo said resting a hand on her shoulder and pushing his power down as low as he could. "We can't fight them... we need to retreat."

She nodded slowly. She could sense it just as well as Jagaimo, these three were out of their league. Even the weakest of them, Nasu, would walk all over them, even in a two on one fight. The other two... no, they didn't stand a chance in a battle with them. "Ok, let's go." she said turning around. "Someday though... I wont run when I see her."

"Nasu!" Kabocha yelled from below making both of those up above stop and look back. Kabocha's tail was now moving much faster, a clear indication she was highly agitated. "I just got the report back... seems it was your own troops that set the self-destruct!"

"What?" 

"Jade, Onyx, and Ruby!" Kabocha said narrowing her eyes. "The security cameras show that they were the ones that set the self-descruct."

"Those three Stonians I picked up last month?" Nasu asked in shock. "What the hell?"

"You're not up to anything, are you?" she asked walking toward him, her tail wrapping around her waist. "Trying to steal the Blood Moon perhaps?"

"What!? Never! I'm not an idiot Kabocha, the Emperor would rip me in half if he even thought... and how could you, of all people think that... I would _never_ turn on my King!"

Kabocha relaxed and her tail slowly unwrapped from her waist. "Then look into those three." she said moving across the room toward the floating orb. "I'll take this back myself. You two get back to your pods and evacuate. I'll meet you back on Saiya."

Kybabetsu nodded and reached up to his scouter activating it to radio back to his pod. As soon as it came on-line the scanners went crazy. Tama gasped, eyes going wide, and quickly pushed her power down but it was too late. The powerful Sai-jin's look changed from one of confusion to one of shock as he saw Jagaimo and Tama. "Intruders!"

"What!?" Kabocha cried looking up. "You!"

"Damn it! Tama, get to our ship and get out of here, now!" Jagaimo ordered pushing her away.

"But... I can't leave you to..."

"Go! Now!" he yelled before turning back to the three below him and then jumping down.

Tama knelt there unsure what to do for a moment but then turned and shot off down the hall. She'd only gone a hundred yards when the floor in front of her exploded upward and Nasu floated up into view. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" he asked smirking, crossing his arms. The read-out on his scouter had jumped up but had quickly dipped back down once more. "So now girl, just how much power do you have?" he asked. "I've got your maximum marked at two and half million... is that all you've got?"

Tama drifted back trying to think of a way to get around him as the mechanical voice announced 20 mintues remained until the base was destroyed. Her eyes darted around frantically for some sort of escape. And then she felt it just below her and smiled. With a burst of energy she shot back a dozen feet and then down through the floor. As expected Nasu followed merely blasting out the floor under him and dropping down. Tama grinned as the large Neanderthan turned its attention from her to the new arrival on the otherside of it.

Knowing the mutant wouldn't delay Nasu for long, she shot off quickly down the hall weaving down side passages and up and down staircases pretty much at random trying to shake him. After a few moments she pulled to a stop and rested against the wall panting. Now only fifteen minutes remained. "That's... not enough... time." she panted closing her eyes. "I don't know where I am... I'll never get back to the ship before this place explodes."

Her eyes snapped wide and she let out a cry of shock and pain as she was suddenly flung forward. She slammed into the wall a few feet from where she'd been and bounced back a little before falling to the floor. Looking up she saw Nasu standing there, smirking. "That was a nice try, using that mutant to stall me. But unfortuantely for you it didn't work." Tama rolled over and climbed up onto her feet wincing in pain. He'd not held back much with that energy blast he'd hit her with. "So, now, what do you say you just surrender, hmm? For some reason Kabocha wants you alive and I can't garuantee that in a fight."

_"Come on Tama, you're not a child anymore... you've been training for this sort of thing for years! Don't stand here shaking like a coward, fight him!"_ her mind screamed, but her body ignored it. Her feet remained planted firmly where they were, her eyes kept darting about looking for an escape route...

"Is that a no?" he asked. "Hmm, well, I guess so." Suddenly he was charging at her and then pain was lancing through her body as he attacked her, blow after blow. She was too scared to even block. A moment later a kick to her stomach sent her down through the floor and onto the floor in another lab.

_"No... I wont cry... I wont scream... I wont let him see me in pain... I wont!"_

Wincing, she managed to roll over onto her back in time to see Nasu peer down at her from above, a finger on his scouter. "Yeah, I've got her. She didn't even try and fight, just some worthless coward. She's fairly strong though, I read at least three million a second ago. Yeah, definitely not Human. I think she's a Sai-jin actually. ... Oh? So you think she's one of them?"

Tama groaned and looked around her still trying to find an escape. And then she saw it sitting against the far wall on a catapult lancher. A round, silver, glimmering, Space Pod. "What's... a... Space Pod... doing..." she wondered. Suddenly the conversation she'd overheard earlier drifted back to her. "This... this must be... that prototype... pod. Well, sorry Onyx... first come... first serve."

Fighting against the pain, she managed to climb up onto her feet as the computer voice announced only five mintues remaining. She glanced up and saw that Nasu had turned his back on her and could tell he was having an arguement with someone. "Perfect..." she breathed, turning toward the pod and flying toward it as fast as she could. It took her several agonizingly long seconds to get to it and get in, time in which she was sure Nasu would spot her. But he hadn't.

Bringing up the pod's coordinates systems she put in the first location that came to mind, a planet well out in the Fringes and far from the Empire's influence. As she finished she heard Nasu's loud shout of suprise, he'd just found that she was missing. And with the blood she was losing... there was probably a trail to the pod. Quickly she hit the launch button and was rocketed into space.

As she flew away she monitored the Earth on one of the view screens. Only a few minutes after she'd launched the labs began to explode all across the planet's surface. And then, as the last of the escape pods sped off she saw something else fly into orbit of the planet. Zooming in on it she growled, seeing Kabocha's face. It looked like the red sphere from before had split open like a four petaled flower and Kabocha was in the middle, her feet stretching down the bottom petal, her arms out on the left and right ones, and her head resting on the top one.

And then the whole thing began to glow and a blast of energy surged down into the planet. Energy began to break free from the planet's core and then in a blinding flash of white the entire thing exploded. Tama closed her eyes and braced herself as the energy shockwave surged toward her. As it hit, her pod shook violently and everything went black.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"And then... I guess I crashed here." Tama finished, closing her eyes. "I don't even know if Jagaimo got away..."

"Well... that rules out the future." Gohan said after a moment, scratching the back of his head.

Piccolo nodded. "Yeah, if there's that many Sai-jins around where she's from it's certainly not the future."

Tama blinked. "What? Wha... why not?"

"Because the Sai-jins are all but extinct." Mirai said.

"What? But... how?"

"An alien tyrant named Frieza." the time traveller replied. "He feared them and the chances of a Super Sai-jin arising and so he destroyed their world, only left four alive. Since then three of them have died, leaving my father as the last full blooded Sai-jin."

"Your... father...? Then... you're half Sai-jin?"

"So am I." Gohan said with a nod. "And my brother is too, as well as his best friend who is... er, well, Mirai's younger self. Remember how I mentioned I had a friend from the future? Well, that's Mirai."

Tama blinked as she looked over those standing on the Lookout with her. "This is... so odd. Nameks still alive, the Sai-jins nearly extinct..." She shook her head trying to clear it. "In... my world... half Sai-jins are unheard of. I mean... they exist in places, probably number in the high hundreds, maybe even thousands, but they aren't spoken of. The Sai-jins look down on them and most of the hybrids keep quiet about their heritage. Admitting that they're a hybrid would only get them killed."

"Why would they be killed?" Gohan asked.

"To keep the race pure." she replied, scrunching up her face. "They're big on purity and think they're superior to everyone else and want to stay that way, so they don't allow hybrids to exist."

"What about you?" Mirai asked. "You said you were a Sai-jin, right?"

"I... I'm only half Sai-jin... I think." she said. "I'm... I'm not really sure. I was found, in a Space Pod, up in the mountains. Just a baby, I don't know who my parents are, or were, or exactly why they sent me off... It was obvious by my power level that I was a Sai-jin, no other race has infants with powers over fifty thousand, mine was around one hundred and twenty thousand. My blood was never tested, to find out my exact parentage, in case the information ever fell into the wrong hands. But we figure, since I didn't have a tail, that I am probably a half Sai-jin. My parents, or most likely just my mother, would have sent me away to hide me... most likely it was my father that was Sai-jin."

"Oh... wow..." Gohan said. "You... you mentioned a Corna and Zuka before?"

She nodded. "They were the ones that raised me, half Sai-jins too. They... died... ten years ago, when our world was attacked by the imperial forces. Somehow they learned that our world was a haven for mutants. So they came to wipe us out. I was... only a child. I couldn't fight... so I hid. I'd been taught survival skills, supressing my power, masking my presence, and I used them..." She closed her eyes to hold off the tears. "I hid and watched as my village was massacred. Corna and Zuka were..." she swallowed and shook her head.

"After it was over and the troops had moved on passed my village leaving only a low level occupational force, those of us that had managed to hide emerged, fought them back, and escaped into the woods where our escape center was and fled the planet."

"That's horrible..." Gohan said softly.

"That still doesn't explain where she's from." Piccolo said.

"Another universe." Mirai said simply. "It's the only possibility."

"That's possible?" Piccolo asked.

It was Gohan that answered. "Entirely. If you can punch through the fabric of space you can cross between dimensions... that pod was certainly going fast enough."

"I wonder..." Mirai said slowly, deep in thought.

"Hmm? What is it?" Gohan asked.

"That invention of Mom's we worked on the other day." he said slowly. "Just before you arrived I saw... something. It looked kind of like a cat but... it didn't seem solid, like it was made of shadow. It had this pulsing Ki almost like a heartbeat and I lost it when it jumped into a shadow... I'd forgotten about it, even dismissed it as me being over-worked right before you arrived, until now. It could have been a resonance with another world, which would mean the barriers between this dimension and others would have to have been weakened around then..."

"Made of shadow?" Piccolo asked, interrupting Mirai, his eyes narrowing. "Or maybe... made of Darkness..."

"Darkness?" Tama asked.

"I'm afraid you've arrived at a bad time." Piccolo said looking toward her. "An old evil is returning somehow, a great Darkness that once almost engulfed this world." he looked toward Mirai again. "Shadow Beasts were one of Tejina's means of scouting areas when she was still a rising sorceress. Birds, dogs, cats."

"So then, it was tied to what we're facing, not Tama?" Gohan asked.

Piccolo nodded and turned. "I believe so. I'm going to return to my training... a war is coming and I intend to be ready for anything." And with that he walked off. Dende waited a moment and then followed after him wishing to speak with the powerful Namek.

"Um, Tama?" Mirai began.

"O-oh, yes?"

"You said you could supress your power... just how strong are you?"

"Oh... well, I was almost 7 million before." she said. "One of the strongest members of the resistance... 5th strongest I think... But, after those injuries I had... I don't know."

"Zenkai." Gohan said nodding. "Think you could power up?"

"Ummm, ok." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A light blue outline formed around her and her power started to climb fairly quickly. She soon hit and passed Gohan's power. And then matched and passed Mirai's. Finally it started to settle and the two Hybrids looked at each other in shock. She was about twice the power of Mirai.

"That's amazing..." Gohan said in shock. Mirai nodded in agreement.

"So, I'm stronger than you?" she asked a little suprised. "I guess... it was the lower class Sai-jins that survived here..."

Mirai shook his head. "No, not exactly. Gohan's father was born to the lower class, something my father never drops. If he's not going on about being surpassed by a low class he's going on about being surpassed by a low class born with a power of 2." It was all Mirai could do not to laugh. "But father was... well..."

"As he's so fond of reminding everyone, he's the 'Prince of all Sai-jins', not that there are any full blooded Sai-jins left to rule ov..."

"What!?" Tama cried in shock, her eyes turning to Mirai. "You... your father is the Sai-jin Prince!?"

"Was, when they were still around." he said.

Tama shook her head in confusion. "I... but... I wonder if... if it's the same person..." she mumbled. "Your... your father... who... what's his name?"

"Huh? Um, Vegeta."

Tama's eyes widened. "It _is_ the same person!"

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked moving over to her, the girl looked like she was about to collapse.

"V-Vegeta... he... he's the... ruler of my universe..." Tama said softly. "He's the Emperor..."

"What? No way!" Gohan cried shocked.

Tama nodded. "It's true... he's the one ruling the universe... him and his son, Vegeta the 32nd."

"Hey, she's awake!" Goten's voice called excitedly. "See Trunks, I told you!"


	11. Champions

_Chapter Eleven - Champions_

Gohan, Mirai, and Tama turned at the sound of Goten's voice and saw him and Trunks landing on the edge of the Lookout. Once more Tama's eyes widened in disbelief. "Who...?" she asked looking toward Gohan.

"These are the kids I told you about." Gohan said. "Trunks and Goten."

"Goten... your little brother? Your... your father... Who?"

"Hmm? His name is Goku... well, his Sai-jin name was Kakkarotto." Gohan said. "But he... died, seven years ago."

Tama shook her head slowly. "This is... going to take a while to get used to..."

"So, he's in your world too?" Mirai asked.

Again Tama nodded. "Him and Bardock are Vegeta's personal guards, the only non royals stronger than the Trio. You said that... he was born a low class here?"

"Yeah, weakest Sai-jin in history, according to what we've heard from Vegeta." Gohan said.

"Ok, now I'm lost." Trunks said looking from the girl to Gohan. "What's she talking about?"

"It's complicated." Gohan said. "What are you two doing here anyway?"

"I told Trunks about her and then we went home so he could meet her but you were already gone! We didn't know where to look but then we felt a strong power going up so we came to check it out. I figured it was her and I was right!" Goten cheered.

"Yeah, she's pretty strong too... I didn't think there was anyone stronger than my dad." Trunks said.

"I'm... stronger than your father?" Tama asked blinking.

"Well, in his base form at least." Trunks said. "But as a Super Sai-jin he'd beat you easy."

She turned and looked over to Gohan again. "You mentioned this... 'Super Sai-jin' before, when you told me about Frieza... what exactly is a Super Sai-jin?"

"Never heard of it?" Gohan asked. Tama shook her head. "Huh, well, I guess there haven't been any in your universe... maybe Sai-jins there can't transform into Super Sai-jins..."

"Sai-jins can transform." Tama said. "We call it the Ekiyajuu."

"Well, that's a new one." Gohan said thoughtfully. "The only tranformations Sai-jins have here are the Super Sai-jin forms and the Oozaru..."

"Oozaru?"

"It's a giant hairy ape." Gohan explained. "About fifty feet tall or so..."

Tama blinked. "That's... weird. The Ekiyajuu is ape-like, but it's not like that... At the most the person only grows a few inches taller." She shook her head taking in the differences between their worlds. "And only full blooded Sai-jins can transform."

Gohan nodded. "That's certainly different. Hybrids can transform into Oozarus, so long as they have a tail and see a full moon."

"Full moon? And they need their tail?" 

"Yeah. You mean your Sai-jins can transform into these 'Ekiyajuu' even without a tail or a full moon?"

Tama nodded. "Yes. A tail is merely a symbol of purity since hybrids don't have them. It's why those with tails either get angry or depressed when they lose them. They lose that sign of their heritage, it's like having their pride ripped from them. And the transformation doesn't require a full moon either..."

"Is it still a ten fold increase in power at least?" Mirai asked.

"Huh? Yes. A Sai-jin is ten times stronger in their Ekiyajuu form than in normal. You still haven't told me what Super Sai-jin is...."

"Well, it's another kind of transformation." Gohan said. "Very different than Oozaru... you need to sort of unlock it through intense pressure and emotions. My dad was the first to do it, while on Namek fighting against Frieza."

"Gohan, it'd be easier just to show her, don't you think?" Trunks asked.

Goten nodded. "Yeah. Here, I'll do it!" He quickly clenched his hands into fists and let out a cry. A breeze rushed up around him, his hair waving in the wind, and then in flash of gold he transformed.

"G-Goten!" Gohan cried in shock. "Whe-when did you... how did you... you're a Super Sai-jin!"

Goten just grinned and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know... I've just always been able to."

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Trunks asked. "You guys are always making such a big deal out of it...."

"I... wait, you can too Trunks?" 

"Sure." he said shrugging. He turned to look at Tama then. "Not that it really matters... this is embarrasing. Her base is stronger than Goten and I in Super Sai-jin! I mean... at least I'm stronger than dad when I transform... Come on Goten, we need to go train some more if we want to win that tournament!"

"Ok! Nice meeting you lady, bye Gohan!" Goten cheered waving and jumping off the Lookout. With that the two kids took off leaving a shocked and startled Mirai and Gohan to watch after them.

"So... that was Super Sai-jin?" Tama said after a moment.

"Huh? Oh... yeah... that was it...." Mirai said. "I wonder if father knows they can do that yet...?"

"I doubt it." Gohan said. "We'd have heard something by now." He stared off after the boys for a moment and then turned back to Tama. "Anyway, yeah, that was pretty much it. But, there's two levels. That was level one, Mirai and I are able to get to level two... and I think by now Vegeta is as well." Gohan walked over to the edge of the Lookout and looked down at the planet. "But Piccolo was right... the way things look now... you came at a bad time. This could turn into a smaller threat than we're afraid of but...."

"I doubt it's as bad as my world." Tama said. "But... as bad as it is, I do want to get home...."

"Mom can probably figure something out." Mirai said. "If she can ever figure out your technology. And if it comes down to it, we can use the Dragonballs to send you home."

"Dragonballs?"

Gohan nodded. "There's seven artifacts on this world called Dragonballs. Gather them all and you can summon Shenron. He'll grant you two wishes within his power. The boys summoned him yesterday but only used one wish so they'll be back in a few months... still, we need to hang on to that wish... just in case things go badly."

Tama sighed a little and glanced down at the tiles beneath her feet. "How long after that... before they can be used again?"

"A year." Gohan said. "Unless Bulma can figure something out... you're stuck here I'm afraid." Tama nodded. "I guess... you could stay at my place. Or I'm sure Bulma has room... we'll figure something out."

"Thank-you." she said clasping her hands together and bowing slightly. "Umm... the boys mentioned something about a tournament?"

"Oh, yeah, the Budokai is coming up soon. A lot of us are entering, dad's even coming back for it." Gohan said grinning.

"Your... your dad's coming... I thought he was dead?"

"Oh, yeah... well, he is..." Gohan said nodding slowly and scratching the back of his head. "He's getting a day back in the living world. Apparently Baba, King Yemma, and King Kai arranged for it."

"Oh... wow... that's... wow."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see him again."

"Me either." Mirai said. "It'll be good to say hello again. And I can only imagine how much stronger he's gotten. Didn't he say he was going to train on the Grand Kai's world seven years ago?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Otherworld, Grand Kai's planet.

King Kai stood a few yards away from where Goku was training. The Sai-jin was floating a few dozen feet above the planet punching and kicking away at nothing, heavy weights on his arms and legs. The short Kai had been standing there watching his pupil training for a couple of hours now. He was trying to find a way to tell him about the feeling he had.... Somehow the Kai doubted Goku's trip back to Earth at the end of the month was just a random event on a random day. He felt a great evil out there, a great darkness that was rising.

Hearing footsteps behind him he turned and looked. There was the equally small and round West Kai walking toward him with a large purple scaled man behind him. "Ah, there you are North Kai." he said walking up to him. "I'd like you to meet the new champion of the West Quadrant. This is Paawa. He died a couple weeks ago saving his entire solar system from destruction." the Kai said happily. "He's going to be competing in the next tournament whenever the Grand Kai holds it."

"Well, I hope he's ready to lose." King Kai replied turning back to Goku. "Hey, Goku, how goes the training?"

Goku stopped and looked over to them. "Pretty good... but these weights aren't quite heavy enough...."

"Not heavy enough?" West Kai asked blinking.

"Hmmm." King Kai scratched his chin in thought. "Hey, West Kai, how about you do the honors. Up his weights to twenty-five thousand tons."

"Twenty-five thousand tons total?"

"No, each."

"WHAT!?"

"Fine, fine, I'll do it." He turned and waved a hand through the air. The sky rippled and then the weights did the same.

"Oh yeah, this is a lot better!" the Sai-jin called, happily. "Yeah, I'll get a good work out now!"

West Kai and Paawa blinked. "Umm... well, uh, see you later North Kai..." he said turning with his warrior and walking off.

King Kai watched them go and smiled. "Just you wait until Gohan gets up here." he said with a small grin. "Goku's going to push that kid beyond anything you could imagine." He turned back and watched Goku again, the dilema from a moment ago returning to the forefront of his mind. He didn't know what to do though. It could be nothing... if he spoke to Goku he may worry the warrior for no reason. "Perhaps... I should speak with someone who does know something."

Moving a few paces away his antennae wiggled in the air as he sought out the person he wished to speak with. _-Ah, Dende. How are you?-_ he telepathically asked the young Guardian.

_-King Kai? I... I am good. Is there something you wanted?-_

_-Well, we Kais have all been feeling something lately. The Grand Kai's been feeling it since shortly after Goku and I got to his world... I started picking up on it a year or two after that... We've been sensing....-_

_-A great Darkness.-_ Dende finished for him. _-Yes, I know. I've been feeling it as well.-_

_-So then, my suspicions were right. Goku's arranged day on Earth does have a hidden purpose... the higher Kai's must want their strongest fighter around to try and deal with it. We don't know what's coming... I was hoping you might have some clue since you're right there in the thick of it.-_

_-In fact, I do. It's an old evil that originated here on Earth a thousand years ago. Piccolo explained it all to me. Somehow, just the other day, the Human Spoppovitch was turned into a Reiketsukan.-_

_-Reiketsukan? That does sound familiar...-_ North Kai said thoughtfully.

_-They were the work of a sorceress named Tejina. We think she did something before her death that is only now coming to the surface.-_

_-Tejina.... that's where I know Reiketsukan from! Olibu was the one that defeated her!-_

_-You mean, you have the old Human Champion there with you?-_

_-Yes, I do. When he died he was brought here for his efforts in defeating Tejina and her forces.-_

_-It may be of help to us to have him around. He may not be able to fight alongside Goku if things are as bad as we fear, but he may have knowledge of use. Two Champions are always better than one.-_

_-Yes. I'll see what I can arrange with the Grand Kai.-_

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Earth, Hercule High.

Videl frowned as history class started. She was there, Erasa was there, Sharpner was there, Gohan was not. And she had a strange suspicion that he was trying to hide from her. Well, he wouldn't be able to hide forever. As soon as school was over she'd head to the attendance office and get a hold of his address. Then she'd go out and have a talk with him herself, face to face. With a scowl still on her face she turned her attention from Gohan's empty seat to the front of the class.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The Lookout.

"We may as well get going." Gohan said as he walked up to the edge of the Lookout. "Since I'm staying home from school today I want to get in some training for the tournament. With dad and Vegeta entering I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

Mirai smiled. "You're going to have more work than that. Mom talked me into entering too. Since that other tournament didn't go so well seven years ago...."

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, with luck we wont have any aliens stopping by for a visit this time." He then turned to Tama. "Hey, why don't you enter too?"

"Huh? Me? I... no thanks." she said shaking her head. "I'll just stay back and watch."

"Alright. Any problems with sparring with me? I need a good partner."

"That I can do." With that the two said good-bye to Mirai and took off for the Son Home once more, Mirai left as well, heading toward West City.

"So... I told you a bit about my world but I really don't know much about yours." Tama said as she and Gohan flew leisurely back to his place. "Just a few bits and parts but it doesn't really make much sense on its own...."

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, I guess not. Hmm, where to start.... Well, I guess I'll start with my dad. He was sent here as kid to wipe out the life here but he hit his head and went from violent to innocent pretty much. He grew up defending the planet from one villian or another. Apparently he just escaped the destruction of Planet Vegeta by a couple of hours or something...."

"It was called Planet Vegeta here?" Tama asked laughing. "Man, your Vegeta must be even more arrogant than mine."

Gohan laughed. "It's possible. Anyway, when I was only four, dad's brother Raditz came and tried to get him back working for Frieza. In the end, though, him and Piccolo killed Raditz but dad was killed too. We all trained knowing two stronger Sai-jins would come... and then dad was revived after having trained with the North Kai. A lot of us, including Piccolo, died fighting Nappa but dad beat him easy. The fight with Vegeta was a different story but we managed to just barely beat him too. And then... everyone went to Namek looking for their Dragonballs...."

As the two of them flew along Gohan explained about the events on Namek, the Androids, and then Bojack's arrival. "And that pretty much covers it all."

"Wow... that's quite the adventure." she said absorbing it all. "I wish someone would come along and rise up like that in my universe."

Gohan looked over to her for a moment thinking. "Well... once things have settled down here... maybe we could go back with you, help you out?"

"I... it's a nice offer but, despite everything you've been through, I don't think you'd really be that much of a help. You don't know how strong they are...."

"Well, we're pretty strong ourselves." Gohan said. "You mentioned you could sense power levels when you were telling us about your world... so you can sense mine, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright then. Let's give this a go." he said looking forward. A white aura started forming around him which slowly shifted to blue and then in a flash turned golden as he transformed. "Level one..." There was another flash and blue lightning began to arc around his aura. "And level two." he said, turning his teal eyes toward Tama again. "What do you think?"

"You... are certainly strong." she said. "But... Nasu's Ekiyajuu form is more powerful."

Gohan frowned. "Wow, I hadn't realized I'd lost that much power since Bojack...." he sighed. "Well, at the least the others would be a lot of help. Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Powering down he descended and landed outside his house. "Hey mom, we're back." he said as he walked inside.


	12. Flying Lessons

_Chapter Twelve - Flying Lessons_

Videl left her last class of the day and started toward the attendance office. She'd attempted to grill Yamcha at Phys. Ed. but he was a lot more together today than yesterday. He merely told her to get back to what she was supposed to be doing or he'd have to write her up. So she'd ditched that idea and fallen back on her other plan. She'd get Gohan's adress and then go to him if he wouldn't come to her. She had questions, he had answers, and she wanted them.

A minute later she entered the attenance office and saw none other than Anna Lysa behind the desk. "Ah, Anna!" Videl said walking up. "I need some help. I offered to take some homework to a new friend of mine before it dawned on me I don't know where he lives..." she lied. She knew the girl well enough to know she wouldn't just get the info she wanted without a good reason. "Think you could help me?"

"Yeah, sure. What's his name?"

"Son, Gohan." Videl said.

The other girl nodded and typed it into the computer. "Oh, wow... he lives way out there... In the Mt. Paozu district."

"Mt. Paozu district? That's out in the middle of nowhere." Videl said, quite shocked. "Well, is there an address or something to narrow it down, Mt. Paozu is a pretty big area."

"Yeah, here, I'll print out the location for you."

"Thanks."

Five mintues later Videl was climbing onto her air bike with Gohan's address clutched in her hand. A couple quick revs of the bike and she was zipping down the streets to her place. It'd take her far too long to get to Gohan's on her air bike so she was going to switch over to the copter she had. It could go faster and it didn't have to stick to the roads either. It'd only take about an hour and a half instead of almost three hours.

It only took her ten minutes to get home, thanks to taking shortcuts through the empty alleys. "Oh, hey there Videl." her father said as she pulled her air bike into the driveway. As she climbed off and capsulized it he walked over to her. "I remembered earlier about that kid, the one from the warehouse. You never did tell me if he was entering or not."

"Huh? Oh, Gohan?" she asked as she hurried inside and dug through the capsule drawer. "Yeah, he's going to enter. And apparently he's got a lot of friends who are entering now too."

"Oh? That's great!"

Videl nodded. "Yeah, a lot of them seem to be former competitors, even a few former Champions... Ah, here it is!" she cried pulling out the copter. "Look, dad, I have to get going. I promised I'd do a few things today so... I'll talk to you later." she said throwing down the copter. There was a flash and burst of smoke and the copter formed. "Bye dad!" she called taking off.

Hercule blinked as he watched her go. "Former competitors and Champions eh? Well, this is shaping up to be a good tournament after all!"

XXX

Son Home:

Tama was dodging around every attempted attack Gohan made and the teen, though still in base, was giving it his all. She pulled to the right slipping easily around his kick and his foot smashed into a tree shattering its trunk completely. With a startled cry he dodged out of the way as it fell right where he'd been standing. Turning he looked up and saw Tama floating a few feet above the trees. In a flash he shot up at her and began to try and attack her again.

"Your form is pretty good at least." Tama said weaving around Gohan's swings. "But you really need to work on your power and speed."

"Gee, thanks. But you do realize if I transformed you wouldn't stand a chance?" Gohan said with a grin.

Tama shrugged. "But that would be cheating, I'm not transformed you know." Gohan laughed as he continued swinging. He had to admit, while he couldn't hit her, it was certainly a good workout trying to. Tama looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke again. "You said you guys here still got Zenkais, right? So... how come everyone used to be so weak? We've had Sai-jins try to abuse the Zenkai before and it eventually gave out on them... did that happen here?"

"I don't know." Gohan said. "I think with the old Sai-jins it was due to the way they lived. Low technology and vicious fights, a lot of them died instead of getting stronger. That probably kept their powers lower. As for the Zenkai... I haven't noticed any of us get one since we first transformed..."

"Oh? So being able to transform into a Super Sai-jin stops the Zenkai?"

"I guess." Suddenly, instead of dodging, Tama reached up and blocked his kick. Her head was turned looking off to the north. She was almost positive she'd felt a twinge of power. Gohan turned and looked as well. "What is it Tama?" he asked.

"I don't know... I thought I felt something..."

"Could have been an animal..." he said slowly. And then he saw a glint of sunlight in the distance. "Wait..." he started, his mind reaching out to find out what it was. And then he felt the Ki that was nearing. He knew only one Ki of that level. "What, no way! It can't be... how... how did she..."

"Huh? What's up Gohan?"

In her copter Videl was blinking at the two dots floating above the trees that she was nearing. According to the GPS in the copter they were really close to Gohan's place... whatever they where. They were too small to be some kind of aircraft and too big to be bugs... and birds couldn't hover. And then she was able to make out a pair of red pants and a white t-shirt on one and a blue dress on the other. "People?" she wondered. And then the one's appearance clicked. "GOHAN!" she cried in shock.

As soon as he heard his name the half Sai-jin froze and stiffened. "Oh no, it is Videl!"

"Videl?" Tama asked. "Who's Videl?"

"Um, remember the guy I told you about, Hercule?" Tama nodded. "Well, she's his daughter... we go to the same school and are kind of friends but... well..."

"She's as clueless about Ki as everyone else on this world?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh boy." Gohan just nodded thankful that Tama was understanding the situation. "We should land." she said grabbing his arm and pulling him down to the ground a few feet from his house.

A moment later Videl's copter landed as well and she hopped out. Gohan swallowed as she approached them, a scowl on her face. "Ok, now I want answers!" she said stopping a couple feet from the two of them. "I'm sure Yamcha told you yesterday about what I'd found, that's why you weren't in school today! And... and how were you just flying?"

"I... er..."

Tama put a hand on Gohan's shoulder and answered for him. "Actually, he stayed home to help me out." she said. "I'm here visiting for a while and his mom asked him to stay to help me get used to it here."

"And who are you?"

"Tamanegi." she said, holding out a hand to Videl. "But you can call me Tama." Videl looked at her hand for a moment and then reached out and took it shaking it. "So, you must be Videl. Hercule's daughter, right?" Videl nodded. "Those are some big shoes to fill."

"Yeah, I guess." Her eyes lingered on Tama for a moment longer before moving back to Gohan. "You still haven't answered me about the flying, Gohan."

"Well..." Tama said slowly. "It's... complicated." Gohan glanced over to her glad she was there to handle this but not sure what she had in mind. Tama wasn't exactly sure either but she had a feeling something like Ki control wouldn't go completely unnoticed by the entire population. Someone had to have found it, other than Gohan's friends, and there had to be some basic myths and what not floating around about it. "Have you ever heard of 'Mystical Arts'?" she asked.

"You mean magic?"

Tama shook her head. "No, no. People doing feats that exceed what a person should be capable of."

"Oh... like those monks up in the Sapernatral mountains, the ones that people claim can levitate and move things with their mind?"

Tama nodded, glad that her roll of the dice had worked. "That kind of thing, yeah. It's not as implausable as a lot of people think. With the right training you can do things like fly and such..." Videl's face slacked a little. "Gohan didn't want to freak you out or anything so... That's why he's been secretive. Him and his friends have all learned these arts."

"And you too? Who are you exactly, anyway?"

"Me too." she said with a nod. "And I'm... Gohan's cousin." she added.

"So... then... the Cell Games... Dad..."

"Your dad played a big role." Tama said.

Gohan finally got his voice back and picked up there. "She's right. Without him we wouldn't have won. And, well, it gave us someone to let take all the credit. We're not really the spotlight kind of people."

"So... dad didn't really beat Cell?"

"Ummm..." Gohan said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, no..."

"I knew it..." she breathed slowly. "I always thought there was something off about his stories and how he said the others used lightshows and stuff. I bet it was your dad, right? But... why the wig or hair dye or whatever, and why the color change eye contacts?"

Gohan was, once more, at a loss for what to say. Luckily for him, Tama wasn't. "Like he said, stay out of the spotlight. None of us want to be famous, just live in peace and quiet."

"Yamcha and the others must have just figured enough time had passed since their Budokai competitions that they wouldn't be recognized..." Videl said slowly. Then she looked up at the two before her. "Can you teach me how to fly?" she asked at last.

Tama blinked and looked over to Gohan. This time he did have a response. "Well, I'd been thinking about that actually." he said after a moment. "There's a lot of things you'll need to work into slowly though, Videl. If you rush it I think it'll be too much for you. But I think you're ready for flying. Maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"Well, I know you're strong..." Gohan said. "But that's not enough for this kind of thing. How to explain... Everyone has a form of energy flowing through them called Ki. It's your Ki that lets you do feats beyond the normal. You've got quite a bit already, though you still rely more on your muscles than your energy for strength."

_"Which is probably a good thing."_ he thought. _"Otherwise her fist would be punching right through most of the people she fought. Though, once she gets the hang of Ki and starts knocking over trees with a single punch and blowing up mountains... that's going to open up more issues... man, life was easier when I only had to worry about killer aliens and Androids."_

"Ki, huh? So... how does it work?"

"Well... first we'll need to teach you how to use your Ki... I've never..."

"I can do that." Tama said. "Here, have a seat Videl." The girl nodded and sat down in the grass crossing her legs. Tama and Gohan sat down across from her. "Alright. Now, close your eyes." Videl did as Tama said. "Good. Now for the hard part. Clear your mind of all thoughts and feel out your body."

"How do I...?"

"Just clear your mind and focus on your body, feel how it feels. I know that sounds weird but you'll understand soon." Tama explained. Videl nodded slowly and tried to do what Tama said. "You'll feel a warmth somewhere... in your chest or the pit of your stomach. It'll be faint, don't look for it, let it come to you."

Videl took a deep breath and focused. It took a few moments but then she felt it, a soft pulsing warmth down in her stomach. "I... I found it..." she said, a bit shocked.

Tama nodded. "Focus on that. Try and bring it out from where it's hiding." The three sat in silence for a moment before Tama continued. "Cup your hands in front of you and focus on that warmth, try and draw it through your arms and into the space between your hands." Videl nodded and did just that. There were several long moments of silence and then a faint light formed between her hands. It pulsed light purple and grew slowly until the light was shining through Videl's closed eyes. The girl opened them, saw the energy, gasped in shock, and then it vanished.

"That was great Videl!" Gohan cried. "It took me weeks to get the hang of that!"

"It's all in the teacher." Tama said grinning.

"That was... that light... that was what Cell and the others were throwing around, wasn't it? This Ki energy stuff?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm sure you've heard of the Kamehameha Wave, right?"

"The move invented by the old martial arts master, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. It's the same thing. Training with Master Roshi is how Yamcha and my dad both learned to use their Ki, as well as another friend of ours."

Videl nodded. "So... now what do I do?"

"Well, try that again." Tama said. "You need to be able to do it quickly and easily, and with complete control as well. Afterall, we wouldn't want you losing it like that when you're a few hundred feet in the air."

"Yeah... I guess not." Videl said nodding.

It took another hour for Videl to be able to draw out her energy almost on instinct and have good enough control over it before Tama and Gohan were willing to move to the next step. "Alright, here we go." Tama said. She and Gohan were standing aside with Videl standing on a small rise. "Alright now, draw out your energy and push it out around you." Tama said. "Remember, it's not like a jet that's pushed by it's energy, to fly you need to use your energy to manipulate the gravity field around you."

"Easier said then done..." Videl muttered.

"Exactly." Tama replied. "So focus. You've got enough energy for flying, all you need to do is push it out around your body so that it covers you like a second skin. And then push it along your body opposite the direction you want to go."

Videl nodded. It took a while to get the energy out. Covering herself was a lot more difficult than making a ball of energy. And then the grass under her feet began to wave in a sudden breeze and her clothes to flap. "Relax Videl." Tama said softly. "Don't push the energy away from you, just along you."

Videl nodded and relaxed a little. The breeze faded away and then she lifted unsteadily into the air. A moment later she opened her eyes and smiled. "I... I'm flying! Whoa!" she cried slipping down a few feet before catching herself. "This is harder than it looks."

XXX

Thursday, April 8th. Hercule City:

Videl had brought up an interesting question the previous day after her flying lesson. Would Tama be attending school at Hercule High too? Gohan hadn't really thought of that. In a way, it did make sense. It'd certainly help the girl blend in during her stay. After Videl had left they'd talked to Chi-Chi about it for some input as neither really had an answer to the question.

It hadn't taken long for Tama and Gohan to decide that the girl wouldn't be going to Hercule High and would, instead, stay behind at the house to help Chi-Chi out. Gohan certainly felt better with Tama there watching over his mom now, incase she fainted again. Chi-Chi had, of course, protested this. Insisting that she was fine and that Tama shouldn't waste her time with them staying at the house all day looking after her. The girl was, however, not convinced, and the matter was left at that.

Now it was the following morning and Gohan was, once again, on his way to school. After the rather eventfull passed three days he was hoping that nothing major would happen today. Of course, his luck was never that good. He'd gotten as far as 25th street and Diablos Avenue, still over a mile from the school, when the sounds of gun fire reached his ears coming from behind him.

Looking back he saw a blue car zipping along down the road toward him with a guy leaning out of each of the back side windows firing off automatics at the cops chasing after them. With a sigh and a slump of his shoulders, today had started off so nicely, Gohan slipped into the darkness of the alley beside him and activated his watch. Instantly he was garbed in his Saiyaman outfit, red cape billowing out behind him in the breeze through the alley.

The radio communications of the police officers then reached his ears and he smiled. Bulma told him she'd installed a few prototype items into his suit for him to test out, including a special radio that would patch in to the police bands for him. Beyond that, the helmet also contained a very small but very powerful computer. The visor was the display screen for the information it had to show him and, in only a second, the computer had culled through the radio transmissions and was displaying on his visor the information of exactly what was happening.

The four people in the car were wanted for kidnapping and murder. They'd taken some rich guy's daughter and the ransom meeting had gone bad, the girl had ended up dead. Moving back out onto the road he stood in the middle of the street as the car charged toward him. It was still two blocks away when he sensed what was becoming a very familiar Ki inside one of the cop cars only a block behind the criminals. _"Oh boy, it's Videl. She still doesn't know I'm Saiyaman. Ok Gohan, play it cool."_ he thought.

The car was a block away now and the driver finally noticed the brightly clothed man standing dead center in his path. "Out of the way idiot or I'm running you over!" he cried. The two gunmen stopped shooting and turned to look toward him. The car was only feet away and Gohan raised his right leg. A loud crack sounded as the bumper crumpled beneath his foot and the car came to a sudden stop, the back wheels still spinning and screeching.

"Man, I'm out of here!" the guy in the front passanger seat yelled as he climbed out of the car. Gohan pointed an arm toward the running man and a blast of gold energy shot after him expanding and flatening as it went. It hit a second later and envolped the criminal's legs bringing him crashing down face first onto the street. Gohan lowered his arm and looked back toward the others.

"Eat lead freak!" one of the gunmen called, openning fire. He shot off at least a hundred rounds before stopping but it looked as though the man holding the car in place hadn't even moved and it was obvious none of the shots had hit him. And then Gohan raised his left arm up in front of his face and openned his gloved hand slowly. The spent bullets fell and clattered onto the hood of the car.

The wheels stopped screeching at last as the driver freaked out, climbed out of the car, and took off as well. Gohan frowned as both the gunmen dropped their weapons and did the same. "Figures they'd run." he muttered. As he moved his foot off the car he turned toward the driver first, he was the only one smart enough to run _away_ from the approaching cops. Either that, or the gunmen were just that scared of him they wanted the police to protect them. Gohan wasn't really sure which.

It didn't really matter either. To those watching he suddenly vanished and then re-appeared in front of the running driver. The man came to a quick stop, his feet skidding on the pavement as he did. He turned to take off the other way but stopped, eyes wide, as he saw Saiyaman standing in front of him again. "Wh-who... who... are you!" the guy cried, taking a step back.

Gohan grinned as he spread his legs a little and held his arms up to his right at an angle. "I am!" he began, as he shifted to a new pose with his left leg up pressed against his right and his arms out at his sides. "The Great!" His leg came back down, he bent over a little, and he brought his arms up, hands cupping over his visor above his eyes as though blocking out the sun. "Saiyaman!"

The guy blinked. "I'm... being arrested... by a lunatic..." he muttered.

As Gohan moved out of his pose he felt Videl approaching him and looked back to see that the other two were already in cop cars while the officers tried to figure out what to do with the third guy's bound legs. "Hey... you're the guy that caught that car the other day." she said. "Just who are you?"

"Didn't you hear?" he asked, keeping up his Saiyaman voice. "I am..."

"Signman, yes, I heard."

Gohan blinked. "Uh... no.. that's not... I mean... it's Saiyaman, miss."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I just want to know who you really are. And how you caught that car before..." She glanced back at the scene behind her. "Or how about how you stopped that car with your foot or caught those bullets..."

"Er, well... I see you have everything under control here now, I'll just be going. Later!" he said waving and lifting up into the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Videl called starting to float up after him. But before she'd gotten more than an inch off the ground he'd vanished. "Huh? How did he... where'd he go?"

Landing in an alley a block from the school he sighed and leaned back against the wall. "That was close. Man, I wonder how long before she figures out I'm Saiyman?" he muttered pushing the button on his watch and going back to his normal clothes. "I mean, she already knows I can fly... she's a smart girl, I'm sure she'll start eliminating the suspects and get to me eventually." With another sigh he made his way to school.


End file.
